Sarah Sue Webb Cooper was born March 20, 1943, in Pocatello, Idaho, and died on December 26, 2024 in Frisco, Texas. She is survived by her husband, George E. Cooper, Jr., her son George E. Cooper, III of Ft. Pierce, Florida; her daughter Rebecca Jeanne Whitley of Frisco, Texas; her grandson, Cooper John Whitley of Frisco, Texas; her granddaughter, Aubrey Elizabeth Whitley of Lubbock, Texas; her sister Julia Joy Rousseau of Arp, Texas; and her sister Melody Michelle Murray of Anaheim, California. She was preceded in death by her father L. D. Webb; her mother Bernice Dorothy Webb Mannen; and her brother, David Dean Webb.
She spent her earliest childhood with her missionary parents in Alaska when it was not yet a state. Her family moved to Portland, Oregon, where her father was a minister and educator and also established Columbia Christian College. Her mother was also an educator. Sarah and the family moved to Nashville, Tennessee, then to Lawton, Oklahoma, and then to Anaheim, California, where she graduated at Anaheim High School. She earned her B.A. at Pepperdine University. She met her husband, George Cooper, in Heidelberg, Germany, at Pepperdine’s Junior Year Abroad program. They were married on June 20, 1964.
Sarah taught elementary school in Bald Knob, Arkansas; Ypsilanti, Michigan; the American International School in Frankfurt, Germany; and in Nacogdoches, Texas. She became a school principal in Nacogdoches where she founded the first stand-alone public school kindergarten in Texas, developed its curriculum, and completed her Master’s degree. She later served as an elementary school principal in San Antonio and in Irving, Texas. She retired in 1995 and spent the next year as a Chaplain at the Dallas Veteran’s Hospital. Although she was devoted to Veterans, she was more devoted to children and, for the following decade, became a corporate daycare director to care for infants, toddlers and preschoolers.
Sarah was a marvelous homemaker, loving and extra-ordinary supportive wife and mother. She served, taught, and blessed children at churches of Christ wherever she and George went. She and George became members at Shawnee Trail where she taught children, worked with the church’s women’s groups, and prayerfully supported George who served as an Elder. Sarah and George moved to Frisco to provide care and presence for their grandchildren. God blessed Sarah with many talents: she was beautiful and had a winning smile; she was a wonderful singer; she played the piano with skill; she was an excellent cook. She exhibited all of the “fruits of the spirit.” On the day after Christmas, she died peacefully and came face-to-face with our LORD. She is in our memories and still blesses us.
A memorial service will be held at 10:30 a.m., Saturday, January 11, 2025, at Shawnee Trail Church of Christ, 10633 John W. Elliott Dr., Frisco, Texas, 75033. In lieu of flowers, please remember her with a gift to the Alzheimer’s Association https://www.alz.org/dallasnetexas