Cora Ragsdale Cooper

Cora Ragsdale Cooper

Sugar Land, Texas

Cora Ragsdale Cooper, age 97, died peacefully on February 11, 2019 at Colonial Oaks Senior Living in Sugar Land, Texas. She was born in 1921 in Dallas, Georgia to Claude Amanda Lester and Robert Ragsdale. Cora loved reminiscing about their farm in Paulding County where she grew up. The barn was built partially underground by her oldest brother. The fenced-in pasture had a baseball park where they played games with the neighbor children. They built bird houses atop the fence posts near the house. Beyond the pasture fence were woodlands where they played hide-and-seek. On the fence there grew blackberry vines that supplied wonderful pies. Beyond the back of the barn was the orchard where they grew apple, cherry and peach trees providing fresh fruit from June until October. They enjoyed picking fall apples for Christmas, milking the cows, and passing time on a bench swing in the front yard.

Cora graduated from Central Night High School in Stenographics in 1945 and was voted “Most Likely to Succeed”. She worked for the U. S. Government as a secretary in the Atlanta Ordnance Depot during WW II where she met Willis Garland Cooper. They were married in 1947 at Central Baptist Church in Atlanta, Georgia. Later in life, she enjoyed teaching Sunday School and working in day care; she loved children. After Atlanta, they lived in Birmingham, Alabama and Memphis, Tennessee before retiring to Sharpsburg, Georgia in 1995 to be near their beloved family. Later, Cora lived with her children in Austin and Houston, Texas.

Cora will be fondly remembered for her impeccable beauty (inside and out), strong faith in God and immense love for family, gardening and birds. She loved people and greeted everyone with warmth, typically calling them “Sugar” or “Honey”. She would often say every day was like Christmas Day to her.

She is preceded in death by her loving husband, parents, and siblings –sisters, Lorena, Evelyn, Louise, Lucy, Zelma, Lorene, and twin sister Nora; Brothers: Lester, Robert, Curtis and Kermit. She is also survived by her two children, Debi Basden and David Cooper: son and daughter-in-law, Charles Basden and Sharon Cooper; six grandchildren, Matthew Basden, Erin Basden Haisten, Brenna Basden, Jonathan Basden, Colton Cooper, and Connor Cooper; and two great grandchildren, Gracelyn and Mallory Haisten, along with several nieces, nephews and theirfamilies.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, February, 23, 2019 at 11:00 AM. The service will be located at the Jenkinsburg City Cemetery, Jenkinsburg, Georgia and officiated by Rev. John Mountz.

Haisten Funeral Home of Jackson is in charge of arrangements for Cora Ragsdale Cooper.

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