SECOND UPDATE: The services have to be postponed. We will update as soon as we have the new date.
UPDATE: Memorial services have been changed to Sunday, January 17, 2021
Memorial services for Sarah Ruth Cooper, 82, of Ridgeland will be held Sunday, January 17, 2021 at 1:30 pm in the chapel of First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi. She passed away on January 1, 2021.
Sarah was born in Oseola, Arkansas August 23, 1938 to Walter Leland (Lee) and Hallie Mildred Mobley (Hallie) Box. After complications from childbirth, her mother passed away but not before asking her sister to love and raise her newborn daughter as a child of her own. Jewel Jackson (Jack) and Georgia Lee Mobley (Lee) Sheppard brought their two week old daughter, Sarah (named after the nurse who cared for her and her mother at birth), home to Linn, Mississippi.
Sarah was graduated from Linn Consolidated High School. She was class Valedictorian, a Glee Club member, football cheerleader and played girls’ basketball. She had a love and tremendous talent for music. Sarah began playing the piano by ear at age three and this talent, coupled with her beautiful voice, made her a church soloist at Linn Baptist Church. She was also the winner of the Memphis State Fair in her teen years.
After high school, she married her sweetheart Robert Lee Cooper Jr. (Robert) also of Linn. They resided in the delta and Indianola, Mississippi where they raised their four children. Sarah was a fulltime mother and homemaker. She was a member of Second Baptist Church of Indianola and later First Baptist Church of Indianola. She enjoyed playing the piano for Robert’s quartet, directing the children’s choir at Second Baptist Church and being a choir member and soloist.
In 1993, she and Robert moved to Jackson, Mississippi to be near their children and she worked at Mississippi Department of Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks until her retirement and she was a member of First Baptist Church of Jackson, Mississippi. During this time, her family grew and she became a Grandmother (Memie) to nine grandchildren.
She is preceded in death by her husband of sixty years, Robert, her parents Jack and Lee Sheppard, and Lee and Hallie Box. Also, her sisters, Jewel Sheppard Tate, Mildred Sheppard Whitten, Ruth Sheppard Harris, Robbie Box Clark and her brothers Mobley Sheppard, Horace Box, Lamar Box, Glenn Box.
Survivors include her children, Danny Cooper (Denise) of Ridgeland, MS, Pamela Cooper Kelly of Brandon, MS, Mary Ann Cooper Spinks (Brad) of Brandon, MS and Robb Cooper ( Helen) of Austin, TX. Also, her grandchildren Tyler Kelly (Amy) of Brandon, MS, Cooper Kelly (Hailey) of Madison, MS, Mary Hannah, Riley and Peter Cooper of Jackson, MS, Leland Spinks of Dallas, TX, Blair and Sarah Barden Spinks of Brandon, MS and Iver Cooper of Austin, TX. Sarah is also survived by a brother-in-law and five sister-in-law along with a multitude of nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Diabetes Foundation of Mississippi or the charity of your choice.