The loss of a ‘great one’: Remembering Col. Carl Cooper

Even as he approached 100 years old, Col. Carl Cooper never stopped moving.

He was “always thinking, always doing something,” his nephew Danny said.

Whether he was picking vegetables from his backyard garden or going to his farm, or just taking care of things around the house, he had an invaluable work ethic, Danny said.

“Your day of rest comes at the end,” he remembered Cooper saying. “We’re not there yet. Let’s keep on going.”

Carl Cooper’s day of rest came on Aug. 29, as the retired colonel finished a life of service to his country and others, passing away at the age of 101.

Cooper was a veteran of World War II, the Korean War and the Vietnam War, and thanked God for getting him through those conflicts.

“The good Lord has blessed me, and I appreciate it. He brought me back safe and sound,” Cooper told the Vestavia Voice in 2018.

Cooper grew up on a farm in Clanton as the seventh of 10 siblings. Cooper said his father was a Baptist deacon and among the first to plant peach trees in Chilton County. Despite growing up during the Great Depression in the 1930s, Cooper said in that 2018 interview his family’s farm always kept them fed and clothed, though their entire home was destroyed once when a tornado passed through in 1932.

Cooper played on the football and basketball teams at Chilton County High School and served as football team captain. He attended Howard College, now Samford University, and studied biology from 1940-41.

“I guess if the war hadn’t come on, I would have probably gone on into medicine or into pharmacy,” Cooper previously said. “Then the war came along, stopped everything, and I joined the Marine Corps.”

Instead of finishing his degree, Cooper enlisted in the Marine Corps in 1942 and went through Officer Candidates School in Quantico, Virginia. As a newly-minted second lieutenant, Cooper was sent to the Pacific theater of World War II and served at Guadalcanal and Okinawa.

Danny said Cooper told him stories of how he had to wipe blood off of his eyes and climb over the bodies of his fallen friends to move forward.

“Somehow, all of that did not give him any psychological trauma,” Danny said.

Coming Home

Returning home, Cooper completed his degree, chose to pursue a career in education and married Jimmie Cooper. They settled in Marion, where both taught, and Carl Cooper coached. When Mountain Brook decided to create its own school system, Cooper was tapped to become its first junior high principal. He also taught at Perry County schools and the now-closed Peterson School in Birmingham.

The Coopers had two children: their son, James Carl, and their daughter, Charlotte.

Carl Cooper was again called to active duty during the Korean War, serving in artillery and infantry, and during the Vietnam War, working mostly in training and recruiting in Washington, D.C. and California. His son also served in Vietnam.

Cooper’s son died young, after returning home from Vietnam, getting married and almost completing his degree. His daughter also passed away in 2006. She was a mother of four. Cooper had 16 great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren.

After a 38-year military career that included work with many “fine people” and meeting several presidents, Cooper retired as a colonel in 1980 and began working in natural disaster response services, eventually working with FEMA to get everything they need set up on-site in the wake of a disaster.

While Cooper was proud of his military service, he did not want to make much of himself, Danny said.

“He didn’t want anybody to think he was anything special,” Danny said. “He loved his country and wanted young people to love it, too.”

Losing a Great One

Even when he retired, he remained active in his neighborhood, church and community, becoming well known at city events in Vestavia, and being well-known in his neighborhood for always flying the Marine flag.

“We lost a great one,” Vestavia Hills Mayor Ashley Curry said. “He was extremely proud of his service. If you didn’t know which house was his on Donna Drive, all you’d have to do is look for the American flag and the Marine Corps flag that he flew year-round.”

Following the recent deaths of 13 U.S. service members in Afghanistan, Cooper had his flags at half-staff well before the government issued orders to do so, Curry said.

“I never knew when he didn’t have his flag,” Curry said.

Curry said Cooper had a personal, caring side as well.

“When he would go up to his farm during vegetable season, he’d load up tomatoes, green beans, and put them in little bags,” Curry said.

When he came back home, Cooper would take his vegetables and drive them to his neighbors on his golf cart. Curry said Cooper would focus on his more elderly neighbors, particularly those who had been widowed.

“He was just a real class guy,” Curry said.

When Cooper spoke at events honoring veterans, he made time for people, Danny said. Once, at American Village in Montevallo, Cooper gave a speech, and afterwards, when a throng of people wanted to speak to him, he did not move for 77 minutes, Danny said.

Putting others first was part of who Cooper was, Danny said.

“The last thing he would say in any conversation was, ‘Is there anything I can do for you?’” Danny said.

Decades after leaving the Mountain Brook City School system, he would still remember the kids he taught, Danny said, and would “keep up with all these people” from across his life.

He would always want to help people and know how they were doing, Danny said, and he gave a good bit of his money to charitable organizations.

Cooper was “one of the most gentle and kind and giving individuals I’ll ever know,” Danny said.

During his time at Perry County schools, Cooper coached Perry Mitchell, who now lives in Oklahoma. Cooper ensured Mitchell had a way to get home after games and practices, even taking him himself at times.

“He took me under his wing,” Mitchell said. “He, I guess, saw the potential. … Had it not been for Coach Cooper, I would not be where I am today.”

Cooper spent a lot of time with his family, said his grandson, Bill Fant. In addition to spending time at the ballpark with his kids and going on vacations together, Fant recalled Cooper picking him up at 5:30 a.m. to go pick blueberries at his farm or to cut the grass.

While it was an early wakeup call on the weekends, it showed Cooper’s work ethic, something he passed along to Fant, along with his modeling the Christian faith, and how to treat people with respect and honesty.

Faith played a vital role in Cooper’s life, from the time he saw God protect his family from a tornado that killed 371 people in the state of Alabama when he was 12 years old to going through three wars. Danny said Cooper told him God would always provide.

Going through his uncle’s military trunks after his passing, Danny noticed a list of things Cooper had written he wanted delivered, a “wish list” during World War II. At the top of the list, in the center of the page, was the word, “Bible.” Everything else, Danny said, followed several lines below.

“That’s what sustained him throughout his life,” Danny said.

To read more about Cooper’s military service in his words as told to the Vestavia Voice in 2018, visit vestaviavoice.com/peopleplaces/conflict-character522/.