BARBARA COOPER

BARBARA COOPER
Oct. 14, 1948–June 7, 2020
Barbara Jean Cooper, age 72, passed away Monday, June 7, 2020, at her home in Upton, Wyo.
Barbara Jean (Thomas) Cooper was born in Belle Fourche, S.D., to Lester
and Eleanor (Berglund) Thomas on  Oct. 14, 1948. 
She lived in Belle Fourche in her early years, close to the Thomas and Berglund families. Especially her uncles, Leonard and Clarence, and a couple dozen other aunts and uncles. 
After the passing of her dad and the marriage of her mother to Carson Rose, when Barb was 10 years old, the family moved to Upton. She and her sister Martha were blessed with two new sisters, Paulette and Jeannie. To complete their family, brother Paul and sister Velma were welcomed new additions. Barb graduated in 1967 from Upton and attended Greens Beauty School in Rapid City, S.D. 
She started her life at a beauty shop by becoming a licensed beautician. The chemicals were too harsh for her, so she changed professions to bookkeeper for Uncle Elmer at Rose Auto Sales and her dad at Carson Rose Auto Sales. 
Barb and David Cooper exchanged wedding vows on May 20, 1972. She started working at the Co-op in Newcastle, Wyo., and Dave worked for his dad at the Upton Grocery. They moved into a small trailer in Fredrick’s Trailer Park. They enjoyed life as a couple for two years and decided to start a family. Deirdre was born in June 1974 and two very short years later David Jason was welcomed into the world. Something was still missing though. It took six years to figure that out. Danielle made her way into the fracas and finished the circus. 
Jera Monroe made her way back into Barb’s life while she was finishing her schooling at Black Hills and completed Barb as a mother. Barb’s dreams of becoming a school teacher were realized when she completed her two-year course in community education through Eastern Wyoming Community College. At her graduation ceremony in Torrington, Wyo., they said she was the first to graduate from there in that two-year time frame. Then she attended Black Hills Teaching College for two more years, graduating with a double major and a double minor. Barbara’s two years at Black Hills State University was spent with Deirdre taking some of the same classes. 
After three years of trying to get hired in Wyoming and South Dakota but being told she was too old, Dave and Barb packed up their circus and headed off to Arizona in 1999. She started work at a special education private school in Tempe, Ariz., with her old schoolmate, Bobbi Peahu. After three years there, Barb went to public school as a special education teacher in grade school. After bouncing around several schools, Barb retired after just shy of 20 years of teaching. Barb and Dave have been traveling by motor coach for the last four years. 
Barb is preceded in death by paternal and maternal grandparents; her father, Lester Thomas; mother, Eleanor
Rose; uncles, Leonard and Clarence Berglund; brother, Paul Rose; and her sister, Martha Rose. 
Barb is survived by husband, David; daughters, Deirdre (Frank) Vella, Jera (Pat) Monroe, Danielle (Nick) Johnston; son, David (Carrie) Cooper; seven grandchildren, Christian (Amber), Bethany (Aiden), Cydney (Henry), Joseph, Arianna, Kaelynn and Jason; and four great-grandchildren, Atticus, Arya, Allison and Cora. 
Funeral service for Barbara Cooper was held at 2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 14, at Upton Community Center in Upton, with Pastor Randy Fowler officiating. Interment followed at Greenwood Cemetery in Upton. Visitation was held two hours prior to services starting at noon, also at the community center. 
Barb will always be remembered for her love of Mickey Mouse, always having Mickey in her outfit choice and in her home decorations. 
Memorials and condolences may be sent in care of Meridian Mortuary, 111 S. Railroad Ave., Newcastle, WY 82701. Memorials may also be expressed at meridianmortuary.com.