More detail on this person: Larry E. Cooper died on July 6, 2023, at Lower Cape Fear LifeCare. He was born in 1938 in Chillicothe, Ohio, to Orville Elsworth and Anna Mae Cooper (nee Woodbridge). The family moved to Newark, Ohio, before Larry's second birthday. Larry served his country as a member of the U.S. Army for more than 35 years. He initially served as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne at Fort Bragg, North Carolina, from 1958-1960. In 1966, he returned to the Army as a First Lieutenant, where he was stationed at Fort Campbell, Kentucky with the 101st Airborne. He then started flight school to become a helicopter pilot and was stationed at Fort Wolters, Texas, Fort Rucker, Alabama, and Fort Sill, Oklahoma, where he was part of a unit formed to go to Vietnam and fly Chinooks and deliver vital supplies to combat troops. After Vietnam he was stationed at Fort Benning, Georgia, and then assigned to a 13-month tour in Korea. He was then stationed at Fort Bragg. He left the service in 1975. He earned a degree in business from Methodist College graduating magna cum laude in 1976. After joining the North Carolina National Guard, he took command of the armory in Wilmington from 1978-1982. He was promoted to Major and assigned to the National Guard's 30th Support Group in Durham, North Carolina. In 1996 he retired as a Colonel from a Raleigh, North Carolina, assignment. Larry is survived by his wife of 64 years, Sallie Cooper (nee McCullough), whom he met at a skating rink in Newark, Ohio, when she was 13 and he was 15. Other survivors are older brother Orville Eugene "Gene" Cooper, son Steve Cooper (John Entwistle), daughter Mary Smalling (Curtis), son Chris Cooper (Eleanor), granddaughter Alysia Cooper, grandson Kyle Smalling (Laura), granddaughter Eve Trabel, grandson Randy Bassett (Hannah), grandson Seth Smalling (Miranda), and grandson Jon Edward Cooper, five great grandchildren, several nieces and nephews, his aunt Mary Young, and brother-in-law Donald McCullough. He was predeceased by his parents and his grandson Jeffrey Smalling. In retirement Larry was an avid golfer who TWICE hit a hole-on-one. On Wednesday, July 12 at 2 p.m. there will be a graveside military funeral service at Coastal Carolina State Veterans CemeteryCemetery, 110 Montford Point Road, Jacksonville, North Carolina. In lieu of flowers, the family requests making memorial donations to the ALS Association North Carolina Chapter https://www.als.org/north-carolina or Lower Cape Fear LifeCare, 1406 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401. The family members of Larry E. Cooper are truly grateful to the doctors, nurses and staff of Novant Health New Hanover Regional Medical Center, Bradley Creek Health Center and Lower Cape Fear LifeCare. Condolences may be shared with the family at andrewsmortuary.com
Burial information: Coastal Carolina State Veterans Cemetery, Jacksonville, NC
This information was last updated 03/13/2024
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Date posted on this site: 08/31/2024
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