Cooper, Lydia Pearl Eck (1891-1973)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 27 Dec 1973 p. 11

Birth date: 1891 May 28

Text of obituary:

LYDIA PEARL COOPER

Lydia Pearl Cooper was born May 28, 1891 in Marion County, Kansas, the oldest of 12 children of Jacob P. and Aganetha Siebert Eck; died Oct. 20, 1973 in Salt Lake City, Utah.

She attended Bethel Academy, North Newton, Kan., for two years, and when the family moved to western Kansas she finished high school in Garden City. In 1910 she moved with the family to Collinsville, Okla. where a few Mennonite families from Kansas had settled. During revival meetings in Collinsville she accepted Jesus as her Saviour and became a member of the Baptist Church.

She taught in a two-room country school for two years. Desiring to be employed the year around, she worked as a waitress in a hotel in Tulsa to earn her board and room, and attended afternoon and night sessions at the business college. Later she found employment in the freight office of the St. Louis-San Francisco Railroad Company.

On Dec. 18, 1916 she wed Talmage DeWitt Cooper, in Tulsa. In 1918 they established their home in Salt Lake City. They celebrated their 50th anniversary in the First Baptist Church on Dec. 27, 1966. She was a member of the Radiant Order Eastern Star, active in the work of the church, and she and her husband were members of the parents' club for exceptional children (retarded), being instrumental in helping to raise the standards in the care and training of these children.

Surviving are one son, Talmage DeWitt Cooper, Denver, Colo.; three daughters, Mrs. Crystal O'Neil of Spokane, Wash., Virginia Taylor of Downey, Calif., and Carolyn Cooper of Salt Lake City; 11 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren; five sisters, Mrs. Hulda Cleland of Santa Rosa, Calif., Mrs. Emma Friesen, Mrs. Anna Sykes, and Mrs. Nettie Sweeney, all of Bakersfield, Calif., and Mrs. Mary Mosiman, Lodi, Calif. Preceding her in death were four brothers, two sisters, and her husband.

Funeral services were held in the First Baptist Church with Rev. Ellis M. Keck officiating; interment in Mt. Olivet Cemetery, Salt Lake City.

Her love of books and good reading, her scholarly nature, and her many interests in life made for an active and full life that were a blessing to all who knew her.