Clay's light shined brighter when he became an uncle. And from what I gathered it was a pretty immediate transformation into Funclehood. He's a fun uncle, and I can vouch for him because I am one too. There are many of us in the BoF (Brethren of Funcles).  My girls are lucky to have a few funcles and great funcles. In case you're curious, Faunts are a thing too. You can pronounce it the fancy way or the normal way, just not too fast.  Best not to say in the company of one really, they're a clandestine sort who prefer not to be named aloud. 

While we funcles share many traits (e.g. teaching see-food) we're all uniquely gifted too. If you can find a funcle listen close because they're always teaching you something.  If funcles are like Pokemon, then Clay is an Arceus (thanks Bryce/Ben/Keely) and you should try to catch em all. 

Similarly, if you find yourself in the company of more than one person you'd like to call Dad --- it's ok. It's actually good. You are blessed with abundance and your cup runneth over.  I had/have the benefit of sharing a Tim/dad with Clay. "Share" probably isn't the right word to use. In reality it was more like a 95:5 split that favored my end of the deal.  I never thanked Clay (or Jenny) but I recognize(d) it and appreciate(d) it.  As kids I don't remember if he and I talked about this but I think we both understood it in each other. I wished I could see my Jock/dad more than I got to, and they wished they could see their Tim/dad more than they got to. But they also had a Jim/dad who seemed like a solid guy and was like my Tim/dad. Others may be confused but that's ok because we get it - and things turned out pretty good for all of us....Pretty, pretttty, pretttty --- good. 
 
P.S. Suuuperdave is our bro too. I think we hazed you enough to formally let you in to the BBC if Clay hasn't already. I can't attest to your funclehood yet because you haven't met my girls. Just sayin, no pressure.

The pictures above are what I remember as being my first sniff. Their dad had these pictures in his car (a black mustang that I thought that was cool because Vanilla Ice also had a 5.0. Though I couldn’t ever imagine why you wouldn’t get the drop top). 

Anyway I thought this kid Clay looked pretty solid.  Checked my boxes at the time which were somewhat simple:
- Sports guy (maybe likes the cubs and appears to be a winner)
- friendly smile 

I’m including Jenny’s picture too because I was excited about both of em.  They were a duo and I always got excited when we got to “go see Jenny & Clay” or “Jenny & Clay are coming to visit”. They both had that smile that seemed to go ear to ear. (Tim’s got it and so does Keely). In later years I’d make a game out of getting them to break and flash that grin. ( especially in teen age years when we all go through a phase of thinking it uncool to smile). If I could get Jenny & Clay to laugh at something I said/did while we were sitting around the kitchen table - that was golden. 

Naturally, he showed me how to tease her the way younger brothers tease older sisters. Occasionally he’d test the boundaries and become a bit too “sassayy”(PhilHartman reference). At those points Tim/dad/referee would lean over and thump him on Jenny’s behalf. (That was just Clay’s big brothery way of testing limits so that I didn’t). When Jenny & Clay did it to me too —- thats when I really knew we were sibs.

I know you’re at peace now, and I hope you felt the love we all had for you. I’ll carry your memory with me for the rest of my life. Rest in peace, my dear brother.

These are my brothers, Clay is on the right. He liked the Hawkeyes and the Huskers. This was taken during the 4th of July one year. I was traveling to learn about roots. I got to see places in England like York. And some others Scotland. At that age some of it went over my head.  One thing I did remember as I found this picture…I was actually kind of irritated about the timing of the trip, because I was going to miss seeing my family, and especially my big brother Clay. I didn’t get to see him and Jenny as often as I ever wanted to - so that made it extra special when we did. 

4th of July or not Clay and I shared an affinity for fireworks. There’s the awe of the big ones that bring everyone together on the 4th.  We also liked to show off our patriotic spirit (and mischievousness)  by shooting them off ourselves. That managed to get us into our share of the sort of trouble that boys get into at that age. We’d pull the sticks off of bottle rockets and come up with all sorts of inappropriate names for what to call those. 

Years later a movie called Joe Dirt came out. We liked SNL and we loved Tommy Boy.  I think we both mourned the loss of Chris Farley almost the way you would have mourned the loss of a brother.  Naturally when David Spade came out with Joe Dirt, it was on our must see list. I’m not sure if we ever did watch Joe Dirt together (I think we did) but I know that I thought of Clay every time I watched it. Particularly,  the scene at the fireworks stand where Joe Dirt is floored by the fact that the shopkeeper ONLY sells snakes and sparklers. I remember cracking up because it was funny but also the premise that there’s other people out there who made up funny names for fireworks too.  Some of the more appropriate ones included Husker Do’s, Husker Dont’s (call back to His T-shirt above) or whistlin kitty chasers. 

I’m sad that my girls won’t get to experience the smile and warmth of their uncle Clay, but me and the other bad boys members will teach them.

OBITUARY

Clayton Cooper

July 6, 1983 – September 13, 2025

Ankeny Funeral Home & Crematory

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