Sarah Lucinda Hill Cooke was born on 12 June 1916, in Norfolk, Virginia to Rev. William Franklin Hill and Sarah Rowe Hill. She attended Booker T. Washington High School, graduating in 1935. She then attended St. Philip School of Nursing and received her degreee in 1939 and later received her masters in nursing eduction from New York City University. The St. Philip School of Nursing was a segregated program for Black nursing students that began in 1920 with the opening of St. Philip Hospital. At that time, Virginia law required racially segregated facilities. The Medical College of Virginia (MCV) operated the school until 1962 when it closed due to declining enrollment and the integration of the MCV School of Nursing.

Cooke worked at St. Philip Hospital, first as a staff nurse, then assistant director of Nursing Services, and served as interim director of nursing for the Medical College of Virginia Hospitals. She retired in 1979 as associate director of nursing at MCV after a forty year career.

Cooke was an active member of the St. Philip Alumnae Association, serving as its president for thirteen years. She also served as the chair of the steering committee for the St. Philip School of Nursing Endowment Fund. Cooke was a recipient of the St. Philip Alumni Star Award, and she was given the Virginia Nurses Association Pioneer Award honoring her work as a nursing trailblazer.