Mary Lou Coup

Mary Lou Coup of Highland Village passed away from this life on March 31 at the age of 77 after a courageous battle with Ovarian Cancer for over two years. She was a dedicated wife, mother, grandmother and friend to many. She was faith-filled and brought joy and fun to us every day, making us all feel better after being with her.

Her funeral mass will be on April 18 at 2:00 PM at St Ann Catholic Church in Coppell. It will be preceded at 1:30 by a Rosary and will be live-streamed for those not able to attend in person. A reception will follow in the Assembly Room.

Mary Lou was born on August 16, 1945 in Cincinnati to two wonderful parents, Dorothy and Rodney Smith and grew up with her brother Tom and sister Nancy. She excelled in school and graduated from St Elizabeth Ann Seton High School in 1963. She graduated from the University of Cincinnati in 1967 with High Honors in Home Economics and Education and began her career as an “Ann Holiday” home economist with the Cincinnati Gas and Electric Company.

While at the University of Cincinnati she met the love of her life, Phil Coup. They were married on May 31, 1969 and moved to the Dallas area where they were blessed with three beautiful daughters - Kathy, Nancy, and Carol. The joy of her life was being a mother and later a grandmother and teaching them to be kind and share God’s love.

In 1977 Mary Lou and Phil attended a Marriage Encounter weekend which ignited a passion in them for marriage and family in which they presented Marriage Encounter and Engaged Encounter weekends to many couples and over the next 40 years and had the pleasure of taking with around 100 couples through the Engaged Sponsor Program, preparing them for marriage.

Mary Lou was a tireless servant of our Lord and her family. She was extensively involved in the schools and was honored with a lifetime membership in the PTA. As Family Life Director at All Saints Parish she reached many families through initiating programs for young marrieds, young families, divorced and separated, and led the Family Religious Education program, writing special annual retreats.

She was a crusader against child abuse working as a volunteer at Family Outreach and later on the staff of Practical Parent Education in Plano through which she gave many parent education programs to employees of large corporations.

Upon moving into St Ann Parish, Mary Lou and Phil became immediately involved in Christ Renews his Parish and had the honor of leading a group of dedicated parishioners to take the program to St Gabriel Parish in McKinney. Mary Lou led and was active with Sisters in Christ and her Bible Study Table. She especially cherished being a Eucharistic Minister.

Mary Lou saw our Lord in the beauty of nature and loved sunrises, flowers, family trips together, and the simple things of life. She loved traveling to new places around the world with Phil and their pilgrimage to the Holy Land was life-changing for both of them. A special joy was being able to help her daughters as they brought her 10 grandchildren into the world.

Her radiant smile and encouraging words will be remembered dearly and her servant’s heart will live on forever

Mary Lou is survived by her husband, Phil; her brother, Tom (Spouse Jeanne); sister Nancy Finley (Spouse Tom); daughters Dr Kathleen Eddington, Nancy Davison (spouse Mike), and Carol Babcock (spouse Jeff); and grandchildren Megan, Katie, and Anna Eddington; Emily, Ashley, Caroline, and Andrew Davison; and Sarah, Samantha, and Claire Babcock.

Her family thanks the many friends of Mary Lou, Phil and their family members for all their cards, gifts and especially prayers which have lifted them up so much.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Mary Lou’s memory to the American Cancer Society on their website: cancer.org