Rachel (Morrison) Cooney

Rachel (Morrison) Cooney, 88, of East Hartford passed away Wednesday, April 8, 2015 at Riverside Health & Rehabilitation Center, East Hartford. Rachel was born in Clarksville, Tennessee, April 26, 1926, one of eleven children to the late Bruce & Gladys (Ussery) Morrison.

After graduating Clarksville High School with four years of perfect attendance, Rachel worked at nearby Fort Campbell, KY where she met her husband of forty seven years, William “Jack” Cooney. When they married in August 1945, he would say kiddingly in future years “one war ended that year and another began”. Rachel was known as an extremely strong woman, exceptionally honest with an unparalleled work ethic and above all with irreproachable integrity. To her children she was a fantastic role model most loved for bringing home Friendly’s ice cream Sunday nights so they’d all watch Bonanza together. Although Rachel held various jobs outside the home while raising five children, she excelled and most enjoyed being a real estate broker, a role from which she retired from in 1986. Rachel really enjoyed her family most, from the numerous trips to see her siblings in Tennessee to visiting her local grand kids, or to phoning her daughters daily. She delighted in bringing everyone out to dinner and coercing you into a game of Yahtzee.

She is survived by her son Robert J. Cooney and wife Laurie and their children Meredith and Will of Lunenburg, MA; a grandson Shane Whitney and his wife Nikki and their daughter Jasmine of Ashford, CT and a granddaughter, Christine Whitney and her children Lucy and Damion of Bristol, CT and by her dear sister Faye Gill of Clarksville, TN.

She was predeceased by her husband William Oliver Cooney, children William B. Cooney, Joanne C. Whitney, Patricia M. Cooney, Harold D. Cooney and by her siblings Laura Corlew, Helen Latta, Geraldine Andrews, Betsy Morrison, Dale Morrison, Howard Morrison, Edwin Morrison, George Morrison and Lee Morrison.

Funeral services will be held on Tuesday (April 14) at 2:30 p.m. at the D'Esopo East Hartford Memorial Chapel, 30 Carter Street, East Hartford. Family and friends may visit the chapel prior to the service from 1-2:30 p.m. The burial will follow at Hillside Cemetery, East Hartford. To share a memory of Rachel with her family, please visit www.desopo.com