Background
Cooper was born in tiny Fullerton in Vernon Parish to Dock Henry Cooper and the former Elestine Neely, she a native of Copiah County, Mississippi. On December 14, 1937, Cooper married the former Hazel Elizabeth Strong (January 5, 1914 - April 14, 2002), a native of Shelby County, Texas, who was the daughter of Chester A. Strong, a prominent farmer, and the former Naomi Mitchell (1891–1986). The couple had two daughters, Martha Anne (born 1942) and Sara Lynn (born 1947).
During World War II, Cooper served in the United States Navy Seabees as a coxswain in the Pacific Ocean theater. After the war in 1946, he established a general merchandise store in Mansfield, a town well known in the area because of a battle fought there in 1864 during the American Civil War. He was a member of the Sabine River Authority, the DeSoto Chamber of Commerce, the Farm Bureau, American Legion, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the Masonic lodge. He was a member of the board of directors of the Mansfield Bank and Trust Company. Cooper was also a deacon in the First Baptist Church of Mansfield.
Read more about this topic: Joe Henry Cooper
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