Coop was born in Cabool, Mo., to Elmer and lnola Cooper, in July of 1942 along with his twin sister. His family, which consisted of nine children moved to Burns in 1952, when he was ten. 

Coop helped his dad with many chores on the ranch and quickly learned that he was not a fan of the sheep. As a teenager, he worked on several ranches in the area, because he felt his dad was not paying him what he deserved.

In 1959, at the age of seventeen, Coop enlisted in the Army. While stationed in Anchorage, Alaska at Fort Flichardson, he met his future wife, Herta. After two years of dating, they married in June of 1962. When he was discharged that same year, with one box of their belongings, he brought his bride to his hometown of Burns. 

The funny guy that he was, Coop led Herta to believe that Hampton would be their new home stating, “Here we are, this is Burns.” If anyone knows where Hampton is located, she was less than impressed. They eventually made it to the real town of Burns, and it has been their home for almost sixty years.

After three years of marriage and getting established in Burns, they welcomed their son, John. Two and a half years later their daughter, Kimberly arrived.

In his younger years, Coop enjoyed helping his community by volunteering and serving as assistant chief of the Burns Fire Department, an EMT for the ambulance service, and as a certified CPR instructor.

Coop had several different occupations, which included being a reserve member of the National Guard, Steve’s Exxon gas station attendant, KRNS radio station DJ and finally found his passion in logging when he went to work for Edwards Hines Lumber Company. His first position was in the shipping department. Then, he moved onto the logging crew, where he eventually became an area supervisor and then the logging foreman.

When Coop finished, his over twenty year logging career, he was the superintendent of LT & L Logging. He received “Lumberman of the Year’ in 1981.

Once Oregon shut down the logging industry, he became an independent truck driver and established Elmer Cooper Trucking lnc. In his trucking years, he not only hauled wood products, but he could also be found hauling his grandkids. He would often take Christa and Shayla back and forth to visit each other. 

On one trip with Kevan, he parked, so he could take a quick nap, he told Kevan, “do not get out of the truck”, well Kevan decided he was taking too long and got out of the truck. When grampy woke up, he found Kevan next to the river throwing rocks and oh boy, he was not happy. He and Kevan also had a nickname for one of their stops called ”Caterpillar Hill.” Kevan had gathered up a ton of caterpillars and brought them into the sleeper of his truck, never to be seen again. From that moment on, every time they went over that hill, Coop would say to Herta, “do you know what hill this is?”

On the trips that Brendan went, Kim would tag along. It may have been due to the fact that grampy almost lost Kevan and Brendan a time or two on their routes. They always had a great time seeing the sights on their trips.

It wasn’t hard to see everything, since Coop never went over the speed limit. He actually got pulled over once for going too slow! The boys loved helping grampy mechanic on his truck at the shop, there was always a story to be told after each of these visits.

After many years of trucking, he decided to dabble in the weed industry, noxious weeds that is. He started working for ODOT spraying weeds in the summer and plowing snow in the winter. As Herta says, “he loved weed control and plowing snow.” During his time with ODOT, he often traveled out of town for meetings and would take the opportunity to meet with one of his grandkids and take them to dinner.

Coop enjoyed camping and fishing at Warm Springs and going to the motocross track with “The Gang” to watch his son race. After one race when Coop was trying to give advice to John, he said, “I don’t see you out there dad!” The next day, Coop bought a motorcycle and soon hit the track. Those days were some of the best memories for their family. They made lifelong friends that meant the world to them.

Coop loved spending time with his family. His great-granddaughters, Maci and Emma, enjoyed coming over in the summer and taking rides with grampy in his jeep. He loved going to the coast and fishing with Jason. During one of those trips, his nephew, Jerrid, got to join them and they caught lots of tuna. On one occasion, he got to try out his new ranger and go fishing with his four great-granddaughters at Warm Springs. Even though they didn’t catch any fish, he loved that time spent with them. He loved plowing snow in the winter for all of his neighbors. One neighbor asked her husband to teach her to plow snow and he said, “We have Elmer for that.”

Coop touched many lives through his generous and giving nature. He often worried about his family, especially when they traveled. He would check the road conditions and would not relax until they made it home safely. He also had special nicknames for everyone and rarely called them by their real names. He always looked forward to Friday night dinners with friends at the Powerhouse and Saturday breakfast with his brothers. His grandkids loved spending Christmas Eve at grammy and grampy’s, while they were growing up. We all looked forward to grampy’s stuffed mushrooms and if we were lucky, he would make his famous hominy dish. He also loved country music…..the old stuff. When traveling, Kim and Herta would have to find a station for Coop, that they could tolerate, but the minute they got out of the car he would change it to the oldies and wait to see how long it took them to figure it out. He was truly one of a kind and loved so much by his family and friends.

Coop was proceeded in death by his son, John Cooper; parents, Elmer and lnola Cooper; brothers, Tom, Walt and Jack Cooper; and sister, Anna Jones. He is survived by his wife, Herta; daughter, Kim and husband, Mark Palmer; four grandchildren, Shayla and husband, Jason Ford, Christa, and husband, Stefen Maupin, Kevan Palmer and Brendan Palmer. He is also survived by his five great-grandchildren, Aysen and Aubrey Maupin, Emma and Maci Ford and Adelynn Palmer; brothers, Chuck and wife, Wendy, Jim and wife, Doris, and Gary Cooper; and twin sister, June Nicholas and husband, Tom.

A private family celebration of life was held in February. Memorial contributions may be made to Harney County Home Health & Hospice 415 N Fairview Burns. Or.97724