Walter R. "Walt" Cooper, Jr.

Walt Cooper of Noblesville, Indiana, beloved husband, father and grandfather, died Sunday, March 5, 2023, following an unexpected cardiac emergency suffered while visiting his son’s family in Bentonville, Arkansas. Walt was born September 7, 1946, to the late Walter and Audrey Cooper. His nearly 50-year marriage to Char Cooper, who survives, began on June 9, 1973.

Walt grew up in Indiana, Pennsylvania, the youngest of three children in a family modest in wealth, but rich in humor and faith. Following high school, he enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, serving in Turkey and Japan and earning promotion as a noncommissioned officer. Honorably discharged in 1971, Walt attended college – the first in his family to do so – at Slippery Rock College of Pennsylvania, followed by graduate school at Shippensburg State College, where he earned a master's degree in Special Education.

Walt liked to joke that he met Char in the fourth grade. And it was true – both were observing an elementary school classroom in their hometown of Indiana, PA as part of Walt’s coursework at Slippery Rock and Char’s work at nearby Ohio Wesleyan University. They soon fell in love and began a fifty-year adventure, the twists and turns of which followed the course of the family they raised together. Walt’s profound love and admiration for Char served as the true north through his journey.

As with nearly every aspect of his life, Walt steered his career according to the needs of his family. When his first child, Walt III, was born in 1977, he left the teaching profession for better-paying work and soon found it in the concrete industry, where he spent his working life until retirement in 2013. The demands of his sales role kept him on the road regularly, but the place that mattered to him was home in Carmel, Indiana. There, he and Char brought up their three children – Walt, Mark & Abby – and built enduring friendships that have deepened through the years.

In the decade since his retirement, Walt found and bestowed joy foremost in time spent with his six adoring grandchildren. “Dude,” as he is known to them, was their favorite playmate, storyteller and, of course, teacher. When he wasn’t visiting his grandkids, Walt could be found serving as the one-man support crew to Char, a passionate runner, at races from Boston to San Diego and in between. Still, Walt found time for rest, fun, and reflection at home in Indiana with friends and family or at the family cabin in Colorado, where he relished in the simple signs of nature’s majesty: a sudden thunderstorm, wind through aspens, the dance of hummingbirds.

Walt and Char have three children: Walt III, husband to Joy (Bentonville, AR); Mark, husband to Jill (Carmel, IN); and Abby, wife to Mark Santurbane (Colorado Springs, CO). They have six grandchildren: Audrey and Claudia Cooper; Harry and Eddie Cooper; and Harkin and Colt Santurbane. Walt’s sisters, Audrey and Jean, preceded him in death; he is survived by many nieces, nephews and extended family members. His entire family will remember “Dude” always for his example of tenderness, humility and humor.

A memorial service and celebration of Walt’s life will be held at 11 am at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church, 11411 Hague Road, Fishers, IN on Saturday, March 11, followed by a lunch reception. His family will also host visitation on Friday, March 10, from 5-7 pm at Leppert Mortuary, 900 N. Rangeline Road, Carmel, IN. Visitation will also be hosted on Saturday at St. Louis de Montfort Catholic Church from 9:30 – 10:45 am before the 11:00 service there.

Walt would want nothing more than for his family, friends and acquaintances to continue in kindness to one another and to remember him warmly. Anyone wishing to do more, in lieu of flowers, may want to make a donation to one of the following: (1) the Green Beret Foundation, where Walt III sits on the board and for which Char and Walt have volunteered; (2) the Wallace Shatsky Blackburn Courage Through Cancer Fund, founded by a friend who fought cancer alongside Char; or (3) Circle of Life Hospice, whose chaplain Chuck Bengtson comforted Walt’s family at the time of his death.

To share a memory or condolence, please visit www.leppertmortuary.com.