Barbara Cooper Thompson Cogswell

BARBARA COOPER THOMPSON COGSWELL

Born in Rochester, NH on December 18, 1916, Barbara died at her daughter’s home in New Durham, NH, on June 26, 2006, after a lengthy illness. She lived life to the fullest as a devoted wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.

The eldest daughter of Burt Randall Cooper and Lillian Foss Cooper, she inherited a joy of helping others in the community in which she lived. While living in Rochester, she was an active participant in the Rochester Republican Women’s Club, the Strafford County Medical Society, and the Cancer, Heart, and Easter Seal appeals. She was also a member of the NH Mental Health Association, and while in the State Legislature, a member of the Committee on Public Health and Welfare. Until her death, she was the oldest member of the First Church Congregational UCC in Rochester, NH, and she regularly attended and was active in the Valley Presbyterian Church in Green Valley, Arizona, her winter home for thirty years.

Barbara was educated in the Rochester Public School system, graduated from Colby Junior College in 1937, and from Boston University School of Social Work in 1939, after which she was a social worker at the NH State Hospital in Concord, NH, until the birth of her first child.

The widow of Vaughan H Cogswell, she is survived by her children Sandra Foss Thompson Grigg, and her husband James, of New Durham, NH; Mark Cooper Thompson and his wife, Carol, of Strafford, NH; Charles Boyen Thompson, and his companion, Deborah Libby, of Milton, NH; and Betsy Carr Thompson Booth, and her husband, Ronald, of New Durham, NH; and her stepson, Vaughan H. Cogswell, Jr., of Las Vegas, NV; nine grandchildren, Peter Carr Grigg; Jessica Ayn Thompson Baker,her husband, Michael, and their son, Jack Henry; Darby Cooper Grigg Davidson, her husband, David, and their children, Hannah, Alisha, and Kyle; Noah Foss Perkins Thompson, his wife, Jody, and their daughter, Meagan Emily Jane; Ryan Charles Booth, his wife, Beth, and their children, Alex, Kyley, and Alexus; Robert Colin Booth, his wife, Tonya, and their daughters, Raelynn and Rylee; Elizabeth Foss Thompson, Randall Cullen Booth, and Benjamin Lewis Thompson; her former husband, Charles Carr Thompson, MD, and two beloved sisters, Jane Cooper Fall of Rochester, NH and Janice Cooper Adams of Strafford, NH; nephews, nieces, and many friends.

Visiting hours with the family will be held at Edgerly Funeral Home in Rochester, NH, on Thursday, July 13, 2006 from 6-8PM, and a celebration of her life will be held at First Church Congregational UCC on Saturday, July 15, 2006 at 11:00AM, with internment immediately following the ceremony at the Cooper lot at Rochester Cemetery, after which a gathering of family and friends will be held at the home of Mark and Carol Thompson, 775 Parker Mountain Road, Strafford, NH. A Memorial Service will also take place in October in Green Valley, AZ.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the Seacoast Hospice Building Fund, 642 Central Avenue, Dover, NH 03820 in her memory.