Barbara Jean Cooper

Barbara J. Cooper, 79, former longtime resident of Auburn and mother of five, passed away in Cedar Park, Texas, on March 7th 2014, surrounded by family after battling Alzheimer's for the past several years. A Pearl Harbor survivor of Portuguese descent, Ms. Cooper was born on the Hawaiian island of Oahu in 1934, to Rose (McNelly) and John Silva, Jr. In the 1941 attack, Ms. Cooper and her grandmother fled to a nearby bomb shelter as sirens wailed and the Japanese strafed the harbor and their Schofield Barracks' post. The adopted daughter of a US Army Officer, Major Bertram McNelly, Ms. Cooper was evacuated shortly after the attack, sailing to the West Coast via troop transport ship with her mother, Rose, and sister, Carol, continuing across the country by rail to Maine, seeing snow for the first time in the early Spring of 1942. During and following the War, Ms. Cooper lived in various cities where her adoptive father was stationed, including Boston, San Francisco, Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, and Bad Nauheim, Germany. She graduated in 1952 from Waynesville High School in Waynesville, Missouri. In 1953, Ms. Cooper married first husband, Roy R. Rosin in Heber Springs Arkansas, where the couple had five children together. In 1972, Ms. Cooper earned her L.P.N. from St. Vincent Infirmary Medical Hospital in Little Rock, Arkansas. In 1973, Ms. Cooper returned to Maine as an L.P.N. for Central Maine General Hospital /Central Maine Medical Center, before joining Floyd Ray Realty as a licensed residential broker later that decade. In 1978, Ms. Cooper married former husband, Glen J. Cooper. In 1981, they co-founded Maine Business Brokers, operating the business out of their residence on Turner Street in Auburn. Throughout the 1980's, Ms. Cooper was also an active parishioner at St. Philip's Church in Auburn, serving as an adult catechist. Ms. Cooper was a longtime supporter of the Theater at Monmouth. In 1992, Ms. Cooper relocated to Portland before finally moving to Round Rock, Texas, in 2010 to be closer to family as her disease progressed. In her later years, Ms. Cooper enjoyed following sports, especially professional basketball and tennis. She is survived by her 3 daughters; Deborah J. Ripley and husband Ibra (Chip), of Denmark, ME, Laura L. Clark and husband Jerome (Jay), of Charlotte, NC, Lee Ann Cook and husband Stephen, of San Antonio, TX; 2 sons, James S. Rosin and partner Kat Hasselman, of Nutley, NJ, and Christopher S. Rosin and wife Rosina, of Austin, TX; 6 loving grandchildren; Anastasia Ripley of Denmark, ME, Craig Taylor of Marysville, CA, Graham and Addison Cook of San Antonio, TX, Olivia and Philip Rosin of Austin, TX; 1 loving great grandchild; Audrey Taylor of Marysville, CA; sister, Carol L. Bridges of Little Rock, AR, and brother Michael J. McNelly of Tracys Landing, MD. Ms. Cooper was preceded in death by sister, Mary Lee Hawley of Auburn, ME, in 1989. Services will be held later this summer. For further information, please send email to: [email protected] In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to Ms. Cooper's favorite charities: St. Philip's Church in Auburn, Maine, and the Catholic Charities of Maine (http://www.ccmaine.org/).