Memorials › Ferrell Lavon Cooper
Ferrell Lavon Cooper
23 Jan 1935 – 9 Nov 2008
| Birth | 23 Jan 1935 |
| Death | 9 Nov 2008 |
| Cemetery | Flat Rock United Methodist Cemetery Crane Hill , Cullman County , Alabama , USA |
| Added by | Andrew Lawrence on 27 May 2013 |
| FaG | https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/31372182 |
Bio
Ferrell Lavon Cooper of Evanston, Ill., died Sunday, Nov. 9, at his residence. Ferrell was born Jan. 23, 1935, at Trade, Ala., to Virgil and Era Cooper. He grew up on a farm in Winston County and graduated from Meek High School in 1953. After a year at St. Bernard College he entered the U.S. Air Force and served three years at Evereux-Fauville Air Force Base in France (1955-1958) during his first tour of duty. He thought to make the Air Force his career, but following his re-enlistment he was assigned to McGuire Air Force Base, N.J., where his duties brought him into contact with couriers from the Department of State. In 1962, he changed his particular aspect of service to his country from the U.S. Air Force to the Department of State. For almost 40 years he continued that service, working in the U.S. embassies in Europe, Africa, Australia and the Middle East. Much of the work was routine communications or courier duties, during the 1960s physically meeting the planes at the airport and receiving diplomatic pouches, decoding their contents, encoding answers and as technology changed moving on into sophisticated computer systems. But routine was sometimes interspersed with danger as when he was taken from the airfield in Nicosia, Cyprus, to the embassy in an armed convoy or when a mortar shell landed in the next room in Beirut, Lebanon.His duty posts included: Helsinki, Finland; Washington, D.C.; Canberra, Australia; Lome', Togo; Beirut, Lebanon; Tehran, Iran; Nicosia, Cyprus; Abidjan, Ivory Coast; Antananarivo, Madagascar; Cairo, Egypt; Rabat, Morocco; Brussels, Belgium (NATO headquarters) and Paris, France. He served the government and people of the United States for a total of 45 years, including about 36 years of overseas service.Following the death of his beloved wife, Amal, in Brussels in 1995, Ferrell became a single parent to his 14-year-old daughter, Nancy. At the time of her high school graduation they decided New Orleans, La., would be his home during retirement. They had lived there only a few years when Hurricane Katrina arrived causing another move, this time to Evanston, Ill. Ferrell fought a long and courageous battle with cancer, never complaining as his condition deteriorated, and he was lovingly supported by his daughter, Nancy and her husband, Nigel Thibodeaux, in all of his needs. Other survivors include daughter, Anne Onyuksel of Lady Lake, Fla.; a son, Edward Cooper of Pembroke Pines, Fla.; two granddaughters, Hayley Cooper of Florida and Amalia Thibodeaux of Illinois; a brother, Norman Cooper of Birmingham; two sisters, Gayle Cooper of Troy, Va., and Frances Cooper of Cullman; two nieces, Andrea Cooper of Columbus, Ohio, and Suzanne (Niall) Dillon of Birmingham; a great-nephew, Devin Thorne; a great-niece, Erica Dillon, both of Birmingham; and a host of cousins and friends. Also, special dog, Destiny, and special cat, Taki. Interment Flat Rock United Methodist Church Cemetery at Crane Hill Translation of Arabic phrase carved on stone: "Surely we belong to God and to Him shall we return."
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