Bob Cooper: A Gentle, Loving Spirit
Celebration of Life Homily ● September 8, 2024
Rev. Jeff Wells © 2024
You can view the full worship video recording at:
Scripture Readings:
Psalms 23 and 150
The texts of the readings are in the service bulletin linked here.
I am so glad to be here with all of you and all those joining online today to remember and celebrate the life of our beloved Robert Maurice Cooper, who many of us knew as Bobby or Bob.
I want to bring to your attention the obituary written by Bob’s daughter, Pamela, which is printed on the last page of the bulletin and includes information about Bob’s life and family. Those online will find a link to the bulletin in the Zoom chat.
Bob died on January 22nd of this year. On February 16, I was privileged to join several family members, friends, and members of the Church of the Village for a burial service at Long Island National Cemetery, where Bob’s remains were interred with a military honor guard, gun salute, and Taps played on a bugle.
Bob joined Metropolitan Duane UMC around 1993 and was a member of that congregation and then of the Church of the Village for at least 31 years. When I arrived at the Church of the Village in 2015, Bob was still faithfully coming to worship almost every Sunday, and he joined in social events like potluck lunches. Until 2018, Bob gave of his time, energy, and talents serving on the Board of Trustees of the Church of the Village. I believe he had also been on the Trustees of Metropolitan Duane UMC. When the pain in his back and legs worsened and it became more difficult for Bob to be with us every Sunday, he still pushed himself to come as often as he could. His faith was very important to him.
Bob suffered a series of three falls during the winter of 2020 into 2021 and was admitted to the Veterans Home in St. Albans, Queens in the early spring 2021. He lived out his last years there. I and several members of the church were able to visit him there and also kept in touch by phone. He told me he always appreciated those visits so much. I remember once when I was visiting, I was able to connect Bob with Billy Spearman on Zoom. They had a great time reminiscing about growing up in the South – Bob in Texas and Billy in Alabama – and about their shared experience of running music clubs in Manhattan.
Bob enjoyed a good conversation and, in my experience, liked to tell stories of his life. I recall once when we were having lunch at a place in Greenwich Village, he told me about his years of managing Boomers, a well-known jazz club on Bleecker Street that was a very important center for jazz and Black culture in New York City from 1969 to 1977. Bobby Timmons was a regular performer there. The Cedar Walton Trio and the Art Farmer Quintet both recorded live albums at Boomers. If you came in early today, you heard a Spotify playlist of a few of the many musicians and combos who performed at Boomers. The playlist we created is called Boomers and Bob Cooper, if you want to check it out. I believe there is a link in the Zoom chat, for those online. We have some articles on display at the back, too, that highlight Bob’s role in establishing and managing Boomers. From my conversations with Bob, my strong impression is that his time running Boomers was one of the highlights of his life.
In my experience, Bob was a gentle man and a gentleman. He really cared about people. And many people loved him. Bob was a good and decent man and we will miss him very much.
Even when he raised something he was unhappy about, it did not come across as a complaint, but more as a longing. For example, I remember him saying, “I wish we could sing more of the old hymns in worship.”
Bob told me he himself had been a trumpet player. I learned only recently from Jean that he had been in his high school marching band and loved the marches of John Philip Sousa. So, it felt quite meaningful to me to include in this service Psalm 150, which talks about praising God with music, and especially the line that says, “We praise you, God, with the blast of the trumpet!”
Nothing – not even death – can separate us from the love of God. So, I am confident that Bob’s spirit is experiencing the peace that surpasses all of our human understanding and is resting in God’s eternal loving embrace.
None of us can say for sure what life after death looks or feels like, but I know we live on in some way the heart of God. And my hope is that, in whatever ways, Bob’s spirit gets to continue enlivening God’s spirit, perhaps playing his trumpet in a heavenly band. So, long Bob, it has been good to know you and to love God and this community with you.