Jacqueline Diane Cooper Martin

1937 - 2025

Jacqueline Diane Cooper Martin

June 3, 1937 - September 29, 2025

Jacqueline Diane Cooper Martin, 88, of Mechanicsville, Virginia, died at Autumn Care Nursing Home on 29 September 2025 from complications following surgery in May 2025. She was born on 3 June, 1937 in Georgetown, South Carolina, the second child of Mary Lee Seabolt and Harry Cooper. Jacqueline was educated at Georgetown High School and at Marion High School, where she was a cheerleader in 1954-55. She married Thomas Daniel Martin, Sr. of Bucks Township, South Carolina, on 4 August 1956. They began married life in Conway, South Carolina, where her husband served first as an accountant and then as a partner at Dargan Lumber Company. There were three children, all born in Conway: Daniel in 1957, Mechelle in 1958, and Marcia in 1960. In 1968 the family moved to Orangeburg, South Carolina, where her husband was Vice President of Dean Dempsey Lumber Company. In 1970 he founded his own company, Martin Lumber Company, and the family moved to Columbia, South Carolina. Jacqueline and her husband became significant contributors to Trinity Baptist Church in West Columbia and the University of South Carolina. She was a talented gardener and had a gift for design and decoration, for which she won awards throughout her lifetime. After the last of her children left for university in 1978, she became a Montessori instructor and later a floral designer. In 1980 her husband suffered acute health problems and she nursed him until his death in 2006. In 1986 she was a charter member of the Mary Boykin Chestnut Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy in Columbia, South Carolina. In 1992 she and her husband moved to Richmond, Virginia. She was a woman of remarkable beauty, and the great granddaughter of two noteworthy soldiers of the War Between the States: John Powers, an officer in the army of Northern Virginia; and Jacob E. Williams, who surrendered at Appomatox. She loved Christmas and made it a wonderful time for all her family. She had a great talent for friendship, had an easy and ready laugh, and a great sense of humour. She is survived by a sister, Carolyn Murray of Baxley, Georgia; three children – Thomas Daniel Martin, Jr., Mechelle Martin Di Buono, and Marcia Easterling; and four grandchildren – Richard Easterling, Ashley Easterling, Margaret Maud Martin, and Jacqueline Isabel Martin. She is also survived by a daughter-in-law, Alice Martin, and a son-in-law, Rick Easterling, who was a constant support in her declining years.

Her funeral will be held at St Benedicts Church at 11 a.m. on Tuesday, 7 October 2025. She will be buried next to her husband in Hollywood Cemetery.

Bliley's Funeral Home