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Submitted: 2/3/24 • Approved: 2/4/24 • Last Updated: 2/7/24 • R1517989-G1517987-S3
Thomas
May 17, 1926 - December 26, 2001
Maria
May 13, 1936 - August 24, 2020
Married: September 10, 1960
Maria Gloria Luna Cooper, 84, passed away August 24, 2020. Born in May of 1936, she was helped into the world by a midwife at her family home in Laredo, Texas.
The fifth child of nine children born to the late Simon and Estela Diaz Luna. Maria was a ‘tomboy’ who enjoyed the sun on her skin and playing softball (as a gifted catcher). She grew up during a time when the girls were made to iron the boy’s clothes. Having many brothers and hating to iron, Maria would hide wrinkled shirts under her mattress. When the shirts were found with rust stains from bed springs, Maria got in big trouble. Her parents and seven of her siblings (Filipe Luna, Simon Luna, Pedro Luna, Guadalupe Elena Luna Ramirez, Lucia Estela Luna Ramirez, Rosario Luna Salinas, and Dolores Luna Sandoval) are all loving Maria now - in a place where the robes are always neatly pressed. Her youngest brother, Augustin Luna, survives.
Maria learned English and finished the eighth grade at Lady Guadalupe Grammar School. She then attended St. Augustine High. An exceptional student, Maria graduated at the age of seventeen. Maria then packed a suitcase, caught a bus, and began attending Texas Practical School.
The first of her family to attend college, Maria’s strength, drive and determination led her to Corpus Christi Nursing School and eventually earned her a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from Northwestern University. Her nursing clinicals were done in Louisiana at one of the last remaining leper colonies in the United States.
Maria worked at both Ouachita and St. Joseph’s Hospital (CHI) - sometimes up to the very day her children were delivered. At least two of her children were born while she was in uniform (one in an elevator and one in the hospital hallway). Maria told stories of riding in the hearse ambulances of the 60s and 70s when emergency transport was handled by funeral homes. There was never a great place to sit in the back of the hearse and sometimes she found herself rolling around (especially if the driver went around a sharp curve).
Maria was a dedicated and caring nurse for over 40 years. Even after retirement, she was often stopped by former patients who thanked Maria for the amazing care she gave them.
Maria prayed for the underdog, never learned to swim, hated onions (also mice), swung a mean frying pan, and once drove the side walk on Exchange Street. She only needed a “look” to stop naughty children, but sometimes a soup ladle worked just as well.
A true Texan, she rooted for the Dallas Cowboys and any Texas team playing the Razorbacks. She often offered the Texas teams encouragement- giving direction from miles away - shouting at her TV screen.
On September 10, 1960, Maria married Thomas E. Cooper. They shared more than 41 years of love, laughs, and family before he passed in 2001. Maria was also preceded in death by a granddaughter, Amy Diggs.
Maria passed on her determination and strength to her children Billy Wayne (Rita) Kirk, Michael Luna, Thomas (Tina) Cooper, Edmond Cooper, Carolyn Cooper, Phillip (Valerie) Cooper, Joseph (Kelly) Cooper, Deanna (Paul) Diggs, and Gina Mitchell; her grandchildren Raven Cooper, Abbie Jones, Marisol Luna, Tommy Cooper, Trenton Cooper, Timothy Cooper, Brandon McJunkins, Gracie McJunkins, Jennifer Henson, Amy Cooper, Hailee Willis, Joseph Cooper, Kamille Cooper, Barie Diggs, Christa Diggs, Ember Diggs, Meagan Smith, and Caleb Mitchell.; and her sixteen great-grandchildren. They will remember Maria, their Mom and “Gemmaw”, standing in her doorway, waving; waiting to go in until they were completely out of sight.
Memorial contributions may be made in her honor to the Hot Springs Children's Dance Theatre Company at www.hscdtc.org. Maria never missed a show.
Contributed on 2/3/24 by debbraszymanski
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Record #: 1517989