Mary JoAn Cox Cooper

1928-2025

Mary JoAn Cox Cooper died Tuesday, August 19, 2025 while receiving hospice care at

Arbor Lake.

She was born on October 16, 1928, in Slocomb, Alabama. Shortly afterward she

moved to Columbia, Alabama, with her parents Pony Black Cox and Helen Gladys

Grant Cox. When she graduated from high school, "Jo," as she was known to her

friends, left Columbia to attend Huntingdon College in Montgomery, Alabama. There

she earned a degree in Home Economics, which qualified her to work for the Alabama

Power Company introducing rural housewives to the relatively new phenomenon of

cooking on an electric stove. Although she worked at that job for only a couple of

years, for the rest of her life she remembered how much she learned from the women

she visited about the practical concerns of raising a family and making a home.

In 1952 JoAn married John Raymond Cooper of Lafayette, Alabama, and moved with

him as he pursued graduate studies and served in the United Air Force in several

states. After eight years they permanently returned to their home state of Alabama to

be close to their families in Birmingham and then in Auburn for the rest of their lives.

During that time they raised their children, John Reed Cooper and Jan Allyson Cooper.

Once her children were in college, JoAn went back to school herself to earn

certification in early childhood development and taught for a number of years in the

kindergarten of Grace Methodist Church. Every Christmas thereafter one of her

favorite holiday activities was unpacking the tree ornaments gifted her by the many 3

year olds she introduced to schooling, thinking about the sweetness of each child as

she hung their decorations on her family tree.

Throughout her life JoAn Cooper was active in the church congregations she joined,

first at Shades Valley Presbyterian Church in Birmingham, Alabama, then for over forty

years at First Presbyterian Church of Auburn Alabama. Although she served in several

leadership roles at the church, her favorite activity was cooking and serving church

suppers at First Presbyterian with her friends and taking suppers to people too ill to

attend. Helping distribute food in the community market supported by a group of

Auburn churches also gave her great pleasure. JoAn Cooper served many roles in the

life of the church, but she always insisted she was a "Martha," the woman in the Book

of Luke of the Christian Bible who preferred working in the background to help other

people in the community feel nourished and welcomed.

JoAn Cooper is survived by her son Reed and his wife Vickie, her daughter Jan, her

grandson Justin Newman and his wife Danielle, her grandson Sean Cooper, and her

great granddaughter Adelynn and great grandson Shephard.

All are welcome to attend the graveside service on Friday, August 22, at 10:00 am at Town Creek Cemetery.

Frederick-Dean Funeral Home is assisting the family with arrangements.