COOLEY, Helen Louise (RICHARDS)

RICHARDS, COOLEY, FURLONG, REDMAN, OPIE, MIDDLETON, SMITH, ROBERTS

Posted By: Sharon R Becker (email)
Date: 4/23/2015 at 01:45:22

Obituary ~ Helen Louise (Richards) Cooley
December 02, 1923 ~ February 28, 2003

Osceola Sentinel-Tribute
Osceola, Clarke County, Iowa
March, 2003

Helen Louise Cooley, daughter of Charles Richards and Augusta Mariah Furlong Richards, was born Dec. 2, 1923, in Weldon and died on Feb. 28, 2003, at the Decatur County Hospital in Leon. She was 79.

She grew up in Weldon and graduated from Weldon High School. She married Robert Calvin Cooley on Nov. 5, 1942, in Tucson, Ariz. and they became the parents of two children, Jack and Jane.

Mrs. Cooley has lived the past 58 years in Clarke County and the past 53 years on the farm she called home. She enjoyed spending time with family and loved the time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She enjoyed playing golf and playing bridge and other card games.

Mrs. Cooley was a member of the Osceola Country Club, Fraternal Order of the Eagles Aerie No. 3495 in Osceola and various bridge clubs. She had been a member of the Weldon United Methodist Church and was a member of the Osceola United Methodist Church.

She was preceded in death by her parents; husband in 1988; infant grandson, Ross; three sisters, Ina Mae Richards, Mary Richards and Nadine Richards; and two brothers, Max Richards and William Richards.

Mrs. Cooley is survived by her son Jack Cooley and his wife, Rosemary Cooley, of Osceola; a daughter, Jane Redman and her husband, Dave Redman, of Leon; five grandchildren, Chris Redman and his wife, Karyn Redman, of Rochester, N. H., Jenifer Opie and her husband, Scott Opie, of Kansas City, Mo., Joe Cooley and his wife, Natalie Cooley and Jim Cooley and his wife, Marcy Cooley, all of Osceola and Sarah Middleton and her husband, Todd Middleton, of Shawnee, Kan.; four great-grandchildren; two brothers, Jack Richards of Grass Valley, Calif. and Charles “Chuck” Richards of Sacramento, Calif.; a sister-in-law, Betty Smith of Osceola; her lifetime friend, Mamie Roberts of LeRoy; as well as other relatives and a host of friends.

Funeral services for Mrs. Cooley were March 4 at Kale Funeral Home in Osceola, the Rev. James Louk of Osceola, officiating. Organist Pennie Gonseth accompanied Rhonda Lowry as she sang Amazing Grace and How Great Thou Art.

Casket bearers were Jim Kilkenny, Charlie Morgan, Darrel Kelso, Merrill Hamilton, Orlin Moran and Craig Fetters. Honorary bearers were Jim Cartwright, Larry Van Werden, Myron Graff, Ken Baker, Jim Emery and Leland Hunt. Interment was in Maple Hill Cemetery at Osceola.

Transcription by Sharon R. Becker, April of 2015