Rebecca Simmons Cooper

A funeral service for Rebecca Simmons Cooper, 86, of Columbia, will be held 1 o’clock, Thursday, October 6, 2011, at Sawney’s Creek Baptist Church, 14605 Hwy 34 East, Ridgeway, SC, with The Rev. Richard Humphries officiating. Burial will follow in the Cooper Family Plot, at the old church cemetery. The family will greet friends prior to the service, beginning at noon. Shives Funeral Home, of Columbia, is assisting the family.

Mrs. Cooper died Tuesday, October 4, 2011, at Life Care Center of Columbia after a brief illness. Born August 14, 1925 in West Columbia, SC, she was a daughter of the late Bennie and Tulula Falls Crawley Simmons. Mrs. Cooper was a longtime employee of Tapp’s Department Store Fountain Room, and a member of Sawney’s Creek Baptist Church.

Survivors include nephew, Frederick William Holt of Greensboro, NC; granddaughter and guardian through Mrs. Cooper’s illness, Melanie Shumpert (Jimmy) of Pelion, SC; daughters, Jo Ann Cooper Killen (Calhoun J.) of McLean, VA, and Vanda Claire Cooper of Blythewood; granddaughters, Carla Sherrod Sutherland of Goldsboro, NC and Kelly Cook Imhof of Great Mills, MD; grandsons, Steven Wayne Sherrod of Goldsboro, NC and Richard Braziel, and wife, Annie.

Mrs. Cooper was preceded in death by her husband, John Preston Cooper; brothers, John Earl Simmons, Herbert Pershing Simmons, Thomas Thear Simmons and sisters, Mrs. William McRae (Mattie Rachel Simmons) Holt and Mrs. Robert W. (Alice Ruth Simmons) Day.