Grief is the price we pay for love.
- Queen Elizabeth II
Obituary
James Cooper passed away on September 8, 2024 from complications of lung cancer with family at his side. His battle with cancer began in 2016 in the form of colon cancer and he beat that twice, only to have cancer return in his lungs in 2023. Through it all he was tough and kept his sense of humor, just the way he was so much with everything else in life.
Jim was born in Erie, Pennsylvania on December 16, 1948. He didn't like cold weather and hated that his birthday was always in the dead of winter. His goal was to live in warm places and he loved going to beaches. Nevertheless he enjoyed playing outside as a kid around the Beechwoods/Falls Creek area of Pennsylvania, where both of his parents families had been living since coming over from Ireland in the 1830's. The family cemetery was close by on a hill that the kids loved playing around on and sledding in the winters. Dad and his family always had an appreciation for their family tree and the old stories of the Scottish, Irish and Welsh ancestors were retold on many occasions. His best friend, Carl Anderson, also came from the Falls Creek area and has family in the same cemetery in Beechwoods.
Jim attended Clarion college in Clarion, PA after high school, where he met his future wife, Doreen Francis. The two left college early to elope, surprising their parents with a marriage certificate from Washington, DC and a baby on the way. In 1968 America's involvement in the Vietnam war was in full swing and dad naturally did not want to go when he had a new family. He eventually signed up for the army, knowing that the draft was inevitable and was placed in South Carolina for basic training. My mom followed him with baby Willy and got an apartment and job near the base. My father strategically did everything in his power to not leave the states during his enlistment and signed up for classes and special training to keep him tied here. He joined the 82nd Airborne and was proud of his rank and loved jumping out of airplanes. He completed 33 jumps and had to learn to land with all his gear on as well as fold his own parachutes. He signed up for Officer Candidate School and graduated, he said it was one of the hardest experiences of his life. I remember him telling me that out of over 200 men that signed up for OCS, only about 25 of those made it to graduation. OCS did keep him from getting shipped to Vietnam, so he was glad to do that instead. After his required time in the army was up, dad was not interested in having a career in the army, regardless of his officer status and instead moved with his family to Alexandria, Virginia, where I was born.
Jim
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