January 15, 1929 baby twin girls, Etoile and Eloise, were born in Birmingham, Alabama to Carl and Vera Ramsey Opton. Their mother had a love for French names.
After their birth, the Opton family moved to Austin,Tx where they spent their elementary years while grandpa was employed as a painter. I was told he painted the inside dome of the Capitol and Mansfield Dam.
The family moved to Houston once Grandpa’s work ran out. Mom grew up in the Heights and attended Hamilton Jr. High.
Mom told me many stories about her youth. The best one was when she met my dad, Sie Cooper. Mom was in downtown Houston with two of her sisters when a car pulled up next to the sidewalk and out jumped a good looking sailor. He looked at mom and said, “I’m going to marry you!”. Talk about love at first sight. Two weeks later they were married on April 14, 1945. And so began their life together.
After the war they moved to Houston to build a family together. Mom was a homemaker. She is self-taught in so many ways. She taught herself how to cook, paint, sew clothes, mend scratched up wounds, and gardening.
Mom was a lady of many talents. She was extremely well read. We took several trips together. We went to San Francisco, Atlanta, and New Orleans just to name a few . While in each city she could tell me the history of the city. She was expressively well versed on the history of the south. I asked her how she knew all this history of the cities. She said she read about them in her books.
One of her best talents was fishing. She loved to fish. She started fishing in the 1950’s. She was a wonderful gardener too, but her best gift was her love for Christ. She brought all her children to Christ. Clifton, Michael, and I were all baptized at White Oak Baptist Church in Houston.
I’ve covered most of her talents but one more that is warranted, she was a grandma.
She loved and adored every grandchild that she helped raise: Yvette, Jessica, Bobby, John Andrew and Ben and every grand dog and cat that needed her love. She was always there for us.
God Bless you Mom. I know there is a great family reunion going on in Heaven right now.
I’ll see you in the stars, the waves on the water and in all the eyes of the people who loved you.
She is survived by her daughter, Diane Cooper Musgrove (Randy); sons, Clifton Cooper (Susan) and Michael Cooper (Ann); 5 grandchildren; 9 great-grandchildren; 3 great-great-grandchildren; and her beloved cat, “Snoopy”.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Robert C. Cooper Sr. and her parents, Carl and Vera Ramsey Opton.
Visitation will be held Friday, December 1, 2023 from 5-7pm at Richardson-Colonial Funeral Home. Funeral services will be Saturday, December 2, 2023 at 11am at Woodlawn Funeral Home in Houston. Burial will follow in Woodlawn Cemetery.
Serving as pallbearers are Ben Musgrove, Craig Adams, Bobby Cooper, John Andrew Cooper, Logan Cooper, and Carl David Laney.
Words of comfort and special memories may be shared with the family at www.richardsoncolonial.com.
