Owen F. "Bud" Cooper

1932 - 2011

Owen F. "Bud" Cooper, 79

Owen F. "Bud" Cooper, 79, of Mountain Home, passed away Monday, Nov. 14, going to be with the Lord he served so faithfully. He was retired from the US Department of Agriculture, where he served for nearly four decades, and he was held in the highest esteem by his many friends at church and in the community.

Bud was also known as a founding member and bass singer with The Spokesmen Quartet, and he helped organize the popular Keith Hamm Memorial Concert each year to raise scholarship funds for local music students.

He was born June 5, 1932, in Melbourne, Arkansas. After graduating from Melbourne High School in 1951, he served a stint in the US Army. He returned home to work as a logger and operated a sawmill with his father, Marvin "Skeet" Cooper. He then went to work with the USDA's Agricultural Stabilization and Conservation Service, where he built a career that spanned 38 years. He moved to Mountain Home in 1960 to become the ASCS County Executive Director in Baxter County.

Colleagues statewide and nationally consistently recognized Bud for excellence in his work, and in 1991 the ASCS Administrator and the Secretary of Agriculture presented him the Administrator's Award for Service to Agriculture in Washington, DC. After retiring from ASCS in 1994, Bud worked for several years with Norcross Ford and Premier Auto Center, where he sold cars and continued to make close friends.

Bud was a steadfast member of First Baptist Church in Mountain Home, where he was a longtime deacon, as well as an uncommonly gifted Sunday School teacher with a passion for Bible study. He sang in the church choir for over 50 years. He had performed with the Spokesmen Quartet since its founding in 1976, and his resonating bass voice only seemed to grow stronger as the years passed. Bud was a lifelong and avid St. Louis Cardinals fan, and he also loved to hunt, especially deer, quail and turkey. Like most everything he did, he was very good at it.

But without question Bud's first love on this earth was his family. He brought much joy to the life of his loving wife, and he doted on his two boys, readily telling anyone who would listen about their accomplishments. For those sons, he set the standard for what it means to be a Christian gentleman. The deep loss that is felt by all who knew Bud is balanced by a wealth of great memories he leaves behind. The laughter he loved to inspire and the love he showed to family and friends are a lasting legacy of Bud Cooper.

He is preceded in death by his first wife of 48 years, Minerva Cooper, his parents, Marvin and Josie Cooper, sister, Imogene Watters, and brother, James Cooper.

He is survived by his second wife, Charlie Faye Cooper of the home; sons, Mark Franklin Cooper (Mary) of Mountain Home and Dr. Owen Brett Cooper of Walnut Ridge, Ark; stepdaughter, Richa Carter of Dallas; brothers, Gayle (Carol), Paul (Melissa), David (Becky) and Gerald (Linda), all of Melbourne and a host of nieces and nephews.

Visitation will be Thursday from noon until 8 p.m. with the family receiving friends from 6 until 8 p.m. at Conner-Hankins Funeral Home.

The funeral service will be held Friday at 2 p.m. at First Baptist Church with Rev. Max Pyron officiating. Burial will be in Baxter Memorial Gardens under the direction of Conner-Hankins Funeral Home.

Pallbearers will be Rex Bayless, Jr., Lynn Blevins, Jerry Frie, Bob Jackson, Hugh McClain, Robert Nelson, Don Rosa, John Self and Kenneth Treat. Honorary pallbearers will be the Men's Bible Class and the deacons from First Baptist Church, and Bud's morning coffee buddies.

Memorials may be made to First Baptist Church of Mountain Home or to Williams Baptist College in Walnut Ridge.

The online guestbook and obituary notice are available at www.conner-hankinsfuneralhome.com.