Roger Cooper

1955 - 2023

Roger Cooper
August 2, 1955 - January 14, 2023
Wichita, Kansas - Roger Stephen Cooper, 67, passed away on January 14, 2023, at home in Wichita, Kansas.
Roger was born on August 2, 1955, in Grove City, Pennsylvania. He was the youngest of four children of Carl W. and Sheila A. (Moore) Cooper of Slippery Rock, PA. He was predeceased by his parents.
Roger grew up with his three brothers on the rolling hills of their parents' farm in Pennsylvania where he learned to work on machinery and enjoy animals. He began working in construction during high school, and later drove truck for 21 years for the same construction company, H.W. Cooper Brothers, Inc. Making a career change, Roger moved to Wichita, Kansas, and began working as a machinist in aviation manufacturing with Raytheon Aircraft, Hawker Beechcraft, and later, Textron Aviation-Beechcraft/Cessna, also, where he worked for 21 years. During an economic downturn in 2003-2005 resulting in layoffs in aircraft manufacturing, Roger drove cement mixers for Dolese of Oklahoma at the Wichita plant for almost 3 years until his rehire with Hawker Beechcraft. He later retired from Textron Aviation in 2017.
Roger grew up attending West Liberty United Presbyterian Church. He first met his wife of thirty-four years, Brenda (Shawgo-Hunke), in Portersville, PA in 1978. Later they married in June 1981, where they attended Portersville Bible Church for 15 years. They had one child, a son, Ethan. After moving to Wichita, the family attended First Evangelical Free Church for 17 years.
Roger enjoyed watching NASCAR races and spent his leisure time tinkering on his own cars and trucks and helping fix-up friends' vehicles. He had a talent for finding broken down autos and rebuilding or restoring them. Roger took pleasure in working with his hands throughout his life whether it was fixing farm equipment, building aircraft, rebuilding something for himself or helping others with a need.
He is survived by his siblings, Philip D. (Martha) Cooper of Pennsylvania, Eugene A. (Debra) Cooper of Pennsylvania, Leslie C. (Kathleen) Cooper of California. Also, he is survived by his family in Wichita, Kansas, former wife, Brenda L. Cooper, and their son, Ethan R. Cooper. Private family services held in Pennsylvania and Kansas.
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