Helen E. Cooper

1927 - 2025

Helen E. Cooper

December 2, 1927 - June 8, 2025

Helen E. Cooper, of Twin Falls, died the 8th of June, 2025. She passed quietly to return to her Father in Heaven at Serenity Transitional Care, after a battle with asthma and pneumonia. After a short recuperation phase at St. Luke's Hospital, her heart gave out while she slept. She was 97.

Helen was born December 2, 1927, in Carrollton, Mo., to Frank and Bertha Howard. Being their only child allowed for Helen to be very close to her mother growing up. That close relationship followed the family to Twin Falls, Idaho, where her parents lived into their late elderly years.

Helen attended Twin Falls High School, graduating in 1945. She was an avid reader and loved education. She always had a book with her. Anyone who knew Helen could attest to the walls of books she accumulated over her lifetime. She read magazines with enthusiasm; titles such as Smithsonian, Biblical Archaeology were just a few. She collected her much loved paperback books at the library and bookstore. She believed one could never have too many.

After graduation, Helen worked at a few odd jobs in the Twin Falls area before soon discovering her love of nursing through her work as a CNA. She set her goal on obtaining her nurses license. A class here and a class there, but she achieved her goals; being the oldest student in her classes never deterred her. She graduated in the CSI Nursing Program at 52 years old.

She was spirited in conversations about marriage; she had been married four times. She said she kept outliving her husbands because she kept busy. She loved to dance and garden. Square dancing was her love and joy and she attended Magic Valley Square Dances each week for as long as her body allowed her to; then she turned to the old country music and cowboy shows. Gene Autry, John Wayne, and the others became her best friends. She could tell you what Kitty was doing like others talk of the Days of Our Lives.

Her funeral will be June 23, at 11 a.m., at White-Reynolds Funeral Chapel, 2466 Addison Avenue E., Twin Falls, with a small luncheon provided by the Third Ward Relief Society. Her service will be streamed at: whitereynoldschapel.com.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to College of Southern Idaho Nursing Scholarship Program.

Interment will take place June 24, at 2 p.m. at the Twin Falls Cemetery.

Her iconic voice, heard at the end of each call or voice mail, ended the same: And she will forever be "Helen Cooper, over and out."