Born in Manitoba, Canada on August 7, 1924, the fifth child of Forrest and Dora St. Martin Cooper, Nellie and her family later immigrated to Lodi, California. After high school, she enlisted in the Marine Corps and was honorably discharged on May 1, 1946. Nellie used the G.I. Bill to attend the College of the Pacific and to earn her Masters in Library Science from UC-Berkeley. Her career as a school librarian and life-long learner, enriched by her love of children’s literature, enhanced her role as a teacher.
Attending a lecture at Stanford introduced her to her future husband who invited her to travel in Europe as his research assistant. Nellie embraced her travels and annually continued to visit friends in England.
Nellie’s marriage to Professor Willmoore Kendall brought her to the University of Dallas as a college librarian when he took a teaching position there. Later her career took her to the City of Dallas public library system’s main branch where her expertise in government and history anchored that department. Nellie’s library friends often accompanied her to the symphony and the opera and possibly a trip to Graceland.
A surrogate aunt to children of many friends, Nellie was a loving, engaging and literate conversationalist with both young and old. She closely followed the news about world events in politics and government and cogently articulated her views.
Nellie embraced the challenge of her lengthy illness with the courage and integrity of a Marine. She died peacefully at St. Paul’s Hospital on February 17, 2014, in the company of her close friend. Her only surviving relative is her niece Barbara Cummins, Roseville, CA.
Visitation will be Friday, February 21, at 9 a.m., followed by Mass of the Resurrection at 10 a.m. All services will be at Calvary Hill North Chapel and Cemetery, Dallas. Memorials may be made to the charity of your choice.
