Dr. Jennie Cooper

Dr. Jennie C. Cooper, 82, of Cape Girardeau died Monday, June 2, 2014, peacefully at her home, with her two children present.

She was born Sept. 4, 1931, in Brinkley, Arkansas, to Allen B. and May Lawrence Cooper. She and William H. "Bill" Frye were married in 1952 at Charleston, Missouri.

They both graduated from Southeast Missouri State University. She went on to earn a master's degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a Ph.D. from the University of Missouri at Columbia.

Her teaching awards include the Faculty Merit Award at Southeast, the Governor's Award for Excellence in Teaching and The Honors Program Exemplia Gratia Award.

She taught English at Southeast 38 years (Shakespeare, Victorian poetry and women's studies) and at the University of Sinaloa in Mexico and the University of Mexico City. She developed the Missouri London Program, which was successful many years. She also taught college preparatory classes for the NAACP after the Civil Rights Movement.

When she wasn't entertaining friends at her home, she enjoyed working logic problems, raising scholarships and finding ever creative ways of teaching. She was particularly fond of the class Victorian Studies, an interdisciplinary course she designed and taught with fellow Southeast professor and friend Paul Thompson.

Survivors include a daughter, Annie Finnegan; a son, Allen (Robyn) Frye, both of Cape Girardeau; four sisters, Betty Cooper Hearnes (Gov. Warren E., deceased) and Julia Cooper Warren Jr. (Harry "Joker", deceased) of Charleston, Dr. Rose Marie Cooper Jordan (William Henry, deceased) of Greer, South Carolina, and Jane Cooper Stacy of Cape Girardeau; a grandson, Jordan Lowry; two granddaughters, Layne Lawrence Finnegan and Holly Cooper Finnegan of Cape Girardeau.

She was preceded in death by her parents; two brothers, Dr. James F. Cooper and Allen Autry Cooper; and a sister and her husband, Velna (Audley A.) Brown.

A celebration of her life will be at 4 p.m. Thursday at the Baptist Student Center on the campus of Southeast, followed by a dinner to which everyone is invited.

Private burial of her ashes in the family plot in Charleston will take place at a later date.

Memorial contributions may be given to the Dr. Jennie C. Cooper Endowed Scholarship Fund, Southeast Missouri State University, Department of Development, or to the A.B. Cooper Memorial Fund at the Baptist Student Center at the university.

Ford and Sons Funeral Home is in charge of arrangements.

Online condolences may be made at fordandsonsfuneralhome.com.