Rev. John R. Cooper

REV. JOHN R. COOPER

The Reverend John R. Cooper of Bel Air died October 30 at University Hospital in Baltimore at the age of 90. He had suffered injuries in a car accident on October 26.

Born in Baltimore on May 26, 1913, he was the son of Alti Brooks Cooper and Raymond Earle Cooper.

Educated at Boys Latin School, St. John's College in Annapolis and the Virginia Theological Seminary, he began his ministry in the Episcopal Church in 1940 as curate at Christ Church in Baltimore. There he met his future wife of 53 years, Marcella. They married in 1944.

Father Cooper served at St. Paul's Chapel in Baltimore and Ascension Church in Westminster before coming to Bel Air in 1948 to serve as rector of Emmanuel Church, as well as assuming the rector's duties at Holy Trinity, Churchville, MD.

In 1956 he moved to Memorial Church in Bolton Hill where he remained for ten years. Toward the end of his tenure there, he was appointed as a Director in the Maryland Department of Aging and was instrumental in establishing the Memorial Apartments senior citizens housing project.

In 1968, he returned to Harford County as Vicar of Prince of Peace Church in Fallston, MD. For two years while he as at Prince of Peace, he also served at St. George's in Perryman.

Father Cooper retired from active priesthood in the Episcopal Church in 1981. Not long afterward, he helped establish St. Alban's Anglican Church at Wilna which continued the use of the 1928 Book of Common Prayer. At the age of 82 and after over 55 years in the ministry, he retired from St. Alban's in 1995. He remained very active after his retirement, taking on various church services as time permitted in between his beloved golf games. At the time of his death, he was on the staff of St. Mary’s Episcopal Church, Abingdon, MD.

Predeceased by his wife, Marcella, of 53 years, in 1999 he married Doris Ranneberger with whom he was able to share four happy years.

He is known and remembered for his keen sense of humor, his wit, and his love of telling stories with a twinkle in his eye.

He was predeceased by his son, John, in 1962. He is survived by: his wife, Doris Ranneberger Cooper of Bel Air; his daughter, Marcella Chiarello, of Davis, California; his son, Philip T. D. Cooper, of Auburn, California; and his granddaughter, Jocelyn Anderson, of New York, N.Y.

In lieu of flowers contributions can be sent to: The Rev. John R. Cooper Memorial Fund, Forest Hill Bank, 130 S. Bond St., P.O. Box 1307, Bel Air, MD, 21014.