Born in Los Angeles, CA in 1927 to Harold and Frances Cooper, Jerry graduated from University High School in Santa Monica before joining the Navy in WW-II. Following an honorable discharge, he married his high-school sweetheart, Shirley Joiner, in 1949. Jerry attended UCLA where he was a member of Beta Theta Pi fraternity. He graduated in 1951 with a bachelor’s degree in Geology and went to work for Mobil Oil in Basin, WY. In 1952, he and Shirley moved to Billings, MT, where they had three children. From Billings, the family moved to Worland, WY in 1958 and then to Casper, WY in 1961. They moved from Casper to Wichita Falls, TX in 1963 and to Midland, TX in 1966. Cooper was transferred back to Los Angeles in 1969. His final move with Mobil came in 1973 with a transfer to Denver, CO. It was in Denver that they saw all three children graduate from college and get married
.
Jerry left Mobil in 1976 to take successive executive positions with Forest Oil, Cooper Petroleum and Evergreen Resources. In 1983 he began work as a consultant in the oil and gas industry. He was a member of the AAPG (American Association of Petroleum Geologists) for over 50 years.
In 1993, he and Shirley moved to the Tres Vistas neighborhood in Lakeway, where the infamous “Midland Mafia” - friends for 55 years - all now reside.
Jerry loved the outdoors. He enjoyed rockhounding, sailing, skiing, fishing, and golf. He was a poet, a cactus collector, and a connoisseur of fine gin. He and Shirley traveled the world, but he was most at home in the western US. He had extensive knowledge about rocks, fossils, stratigraphy and plate tectonics, and was forever examining the terrain and explaining its various “nifty” geologic features.
Gerald Cooper was a good friend to all who knew him. He was devoted to Shirley and to his family. He was a wonderful father, grandfather and great-grandfather. He is survived by his wife of 69 years, his three children - Steve Cooper (wife Beth), Suzanne Asebroek (husband Randy) and Marylou Haake (husband David), his sister, Ann Cooper Jensen, nine grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
The family would like to thank everyone at Silverado Memory Care and the Silverado Hospice team for their passionate and loving care of Jerry in his final days.
A memorial service will be held on Saturday, October 19 at 1 p.m. at Weed-Corley-Fish, 411 RR 620 South, Lakeway, TX with a reception immediately following.
