Joe Henry Cooper, 77, a lifelong resident of Harman, and more recently a resident of Holbrook Nursing Home at Buckhannon, departed this life at 10:45 p.m. Tuesday, March 26, 2002, at the nursing home. He had been in declining health for the past eight-and-one-half years and death was attributed to Parkinson’s Disease.
He was born March 13, 1924, at Harman, a son of the late Charles Henry Cooper and Flodie Lantz Cooper.
He was married to the former Elva Hedrick, who preceded him in death on Aug. 7, 1988.
Surviving are two sons, Joe Henry Cooper Jr. and wife, Sandy, Harman, and Earl Summerfield and wife, Mary, Missouri; five daughters, Wilma C. "Willie" Elliott, Wadestown, Eleanor Barr and husband, Alan, Stephens City, Va., Virginia Bland and husband, Gerald, Petersburg, Mary Cardill, Dixon, Ky., and Thelma Richardson and husband, Arnold, King George, Va.; two sisters, Phoebe L. Lawrence and husband, Carl Gene, Alexandria, Va., and Carol Jean Pine and husband, Bill, Radcliff, Ky.; 12 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by one infant brother, Calvin Cooper; three sisters, Sally Harper, Virginia Blizzard and Mary Alice Vance; and one infant great-granddaughter.
He attended the schools at Harman. He was a veteran of the U.S. Army during World War II, serving in the European Theatre and the attack on Normandy and received the Purple Heart. He was a logger and carpenter.
He was a charter and lifetime member of the Harman Post 5781, Veterans of Foreign Wars, where he was a former past commander for many years. He was a member of Carpenters Local Union 476 of Clarksburg and a member of Harman Church of the Brethren. He was an avid outdoorsman.
Friends will be received at Harman Church of the Brethren from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today. Final rites will be conducted at the church Friday at 2 p.m. The Rev. Joseph Mininger will officiate and interment will follow at Cooper Cemetery at Harman, where the H.W. Daniel’s Post 29, American Legion and the Tygarts Valley Post 3647, Veterans of Foreign Wars will conduct full military rites. Lohr-Barb-Vance Funeral Home is in charge of the arrangements. From 28 Mar 2002.