Recent Gerber Baby Meets The Original Who Is Over 90 Years Old

May 21, 2021

Gerber has been a household name since 1927 and its baby food products are loved by the world over. Created by Daniel Frank Gerber, the brand is recognized instantly by an iconic sketch of a baby on its logo. For years there was no public information about this baby, but eventually, the news came out that it was in fact based on a real person.

Ann Turner Cook, who is an accomplished mystery writer and who was also an English teacher, turned out to be the world-famous Gerber baby. Her sketched image has appeared on the brand's baby food jars and other products for a span of nine decades after it won a brand contest in the year 1928. It was in the year 1931 that the charcoal drawing, completed by Turner Cook's family friend Dorothy Hope Smith, became Gerber's official trademark, reports Fox.

Turner Cook, who is 94 today, has enjoyed being in the spotlight as the famed Gerber baby since the 1970s when the company first revealed to the public who the baby in the image was. Then in 2011, the company decided to make more Gerber babies, meaning they would select a different baby each year to represent the company as a kind of "spokesbaby," showing that Gerber babies are incredibly diverse. 

The Gerber baby for 2018 was a young boy with Down Syndrome named Lucas Warren. Incredibly adorable, Lucas' smile is totally infectious. In a turn of events, Lucas and his family happened to be in Florida near where Turner Cook lives, and the two Gerber babies subsequently met and engaged in the sweetest photoshoot. Let's take a look.

Many people may not realize that mystery writer and teacher Ann Turner Cook's original claim to fame has nothing to do with her writing or teaching abilities, but instead, it's an image of her face when she was just a little baby. She is none other than the world-famous Gerber baby. 

The memorable sketch, which appears on the brand's logo, shows a wide-eyed, innocent-looking young Turner Cook with her lips opened in a look of wonder and awe. Though the artist behind the sketch, Dorothy Hope Smith, who was a family friend of Turner Cook's, claimed she would transform the sketch into a more complete work of art if she won the contest, the judges were so smitten with the original sketch that they demanded it should become the official face of the Gerber brand. And the rest, as they say, is history. All over the world, people have come to recognize and cherish this cherubic baby face that remains on Gerber products and in all of their advertisements to the present time. 

But, interestingly, for more than four decades, no one outside of Turner Cook's family, the close inner circle at Gerber, and the artist were privy to the Gerber baby's identity. All of that changed in 1978 when Gerber finally let the cat out of the bag and let the world know whose face they had been admiring for so long, as per CNN. Even at the age of 94, you can still see Turner Cook's resemblance to that bright-eyed, adorable babe on the Gerber packaging.

Over the years, Turner Cook has had the privilege to be introduced to Gerber babies who have also been chosen to represent the brand over the years, including Lucas Warren, who was 1-year-old at the time of their meeting.

Lucas became Gerber's first representative with Down Syndrome when he was chosen to be the Gerber baby for 2018. Lucas' family was on a trip to Florida when they met up with Turner Cook in Tampa in 2018, according to CBS. The darling little boy smiled and waved at her as soon as the two met one another, while his parents remarked on her kindness.

The incredibly precious moment of two Gerber babies, born almost a century apart, was immortalized in a beautiful photograph in which Turner Cook is holding Lucas as he sits in her lap. Although very different in age, both of them have the most incredibly warming eyes and smiles — if you had any doubt why they were each chosen to be Gerber babies, then this photo would put that to rest. 

A Twitter user by the name of Chris Colin, who happens to be Turner Cook's grandson, shared the moment with the world. Alongside the photo he wrote:

"My grandmother was the Gerber baby. It was a funny bit of trivia, never made her rich or got us free strained peas or anything. But last week she got to meet the company's newest spokesbaby, named Lucas. Pretty pretttty cute."

He's certainly not wrong in how adorable this photo is. What a wonderful sight to see two Gerber babies united in such circumstances!

Have you ever wondered who the Gerber baby is? What do you think about Ann Turner Cook and Lucas Warren's meeting? If you found this article incredibly sweet, be sure to pass it on to others to brighten their day!