Ellen Earline Cooper, born on May 23, 1925 in Perryton, Texas, passed away peacefully on March 27, 2014, surrounded by her loving family. She went to be with The Lord and join her husband Wayland, who passed away on June 30, 2005. She married her husband on March 24, 1945 in Amarillo, Texas, and celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary just three months prior to his death.
Shortly after their wedding, she and her husband lived in Fort Lewis, Washington and Fort Ord, California, where her husband served in the United States Army. Immediately following his discharge, she and her husband moved to Dumas, Texas to make their home and start a family, where her husband began a career in the energy industry with Natural Gas Pipeline. She was a devoted housewife and mother, and shared her husband’s career with stops in Wharton, Texas and Great Bend, Kansas, before retiring and building a home on Lake Houston near Houston, Texas. Ultimately, she and her husband made their final move to Stonebridge Ranch in McKinney, Texas to be near their grandchildren and family, where they became active members of First Baptist Church of McKinney and the Senior Citizen’s Center and Dance Club of McKinney. Following her husband’s death, she made her home at Collin Oaks Assisted Living in Plano, Texas where she lived the remaining years of her life.
In addition to being an accomplished high school basketball player, she was raised in a rodeo family, of which her father was a world champion bronco rider and she was a professional trick rider and trick roper. She was also a successful antique furniture dealer for several years, and enjoyed dancing, painting and her beloved dogs. Not unlike her late husband, she was especially fond of attending sporting events and activities her granddaughter and grandson participated in throughout their lives. She was dearly loved by her family and friends.
She is survived by her son Stacy Cooper and wife Debbie, son Tony Cooper and wife Joann, grandchildren Lindsey and Grant Cooper, and other relatives. She is preceded in death by her husband Wayland, her mother and father, Earl and Louise West, and brother Glen.
Funeral services will be held Monday, March 31, 2014 at 10:00 AM at the Turrentine-Jackson Morrow Funeral Home Chapel in Allen, Texas, with interment following at Ridgeview Memorial Park Cemetery next to her husband’s grave. Family and friends are invited to the funeral home at their convenience on Sunday to pay their respects and to sign the register book.