Mary Naomi Cline Cooper

She was born in her family home on July 25, 1933 in Myrtle, MO, a rural area with no electricity, running water or indoor plumbing. She graduated from Couch High School in 1951 and later that year she met a young Texas man, Dwayne “Corky” Cline, while they were picking cotton in Arizona. The two hit it off and were married June 15, 1952, in California. They moved to Michigan to find work in the automotive industry. While there they were blessed with their firstborn son, Michael Dwayne. In 1956, the family moved to Tennessee where they were blessed with another son, Randall Paul. The family settled in Madison, TN in 1963 in a house Naomi would live in for the next 57 years.

At the age of 36, Naomi enrolled in a Licensed Practical Nurse training program at Madison Hospital, where she would care for patients in the Critical Care Unit for the next 30 years. She kept busy sewing, knitting, and crocheting countless items, many which were given away as gifts. She was a faithful member of the Church of the Firstborn in White House (formerly in Nashville) for more than 66 years. She played guitar and sang with Corky in the Hartsville Congregation in the 1950s-1960s. She sang in the choir and worked with the Ladies’ Aid. For years she made dozens of Mississippi Mud Cakes and other desserts for the church’s annual fundraiser selling food at the Tennessee State Fair.

Naomi was widowed at the age of 47. She began going to yard sales to keep herself busy and before long it had turned into a ministry finding clothes and other items that were given to families in need. Several children in her life were clothed primarily from the good deals she would find at yard sales.

In 2000, at age 67, she married Paul Cooper, a Missouri man she had befriend through the years. The two enjoyed more than 22 years of marriage while they grew older together.

She is survived by her husband, Paul Cooper, her sons and daughters-in-love, Mike and Pam Cline of White House, Randy and Judy Cline of White House, her two grandchildren, Todd Cline and Kara (Rich) McCrary, and four great grandchildren, Jaylon Cline, Braylon Cline, Kennedy McCrary and Kingston McCrary. Also survived by her brother Wendell Newman, nieces Angela Hunter (Greenbrier) and Melanie Poyner and their families, her nephew Richard Howard and his family, and her extended family at the Church of the Firstborn.

She is preceded in death by her parents, Elmer and Wavie Newman, her first husband, Dwayne Cline, her bothers Gaither (Robertha) Newman and Del (Ruthie) Newman, her sister Bea (Lee) Carpenter, and her sister-in-law Judy Newman.

Services will be conducted 1pm on Friday, June 23 2023 at Forest Lawn Funeral Home officiated by Bro. Roger Brewer. Burial will follow in the Forest Lawn Memorial Gardens with Jaylon Cline, Braylon Cline, Kingston McCrary, Daniel Hinson, Kevin Hinson and Matt Hinson serving as pallbearers.

Visitation will be held Thursday from 5pm until 8pm and Friday from 10am until 1pm at the funeral home.

In lieu of flowers, contributions in her name can be made to Dayspring Academy, Greenbrier, TN

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.ForestLawnFuneral-Goodlettsville.com for the Cooper family.