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Marshall Fisher Cooper was born September 17, 1912, in Harold, Santa Rosa County, Florida. He died June 29, 1957 at the Naval Air Station Hospital in Jacksonville, Florida. His parents were Charles Robinson Cooper and Mary Ann Matthews. He had an older sister Clara Evelyn Cooper, born in 1910 and a younger brother Milledge Lushington (Bill) Cooper born in 1914. In 1920, at the age of eight, Marshall's parents divorced. Marshall and his younger brother went to live with their grandparents, Jim and Lucyann Cooper and his older sister, Clara, went to live with their Aunt Lorina and Uncle Floyd M. Cooper.
Marshall lived with his grandparents until he turned sixteen and decided he wanted to join the military. With permission from his father, he joined the Navy. Because of his young age and slight stature, in order to pass the physical to join the Navy, he had to stuff himself with bananas to pass the minimum weight requirement. Marshall was a Chief and served in the Pacific during most of WWII and suffered partial hearing loss due to the firing of the heavy guns aboard ship. One of the ships he served on was the USS Little Rock.
While on military leave, he would always visit his relatives in west Florida. He was close to his Aunts and Uncles and the Cooper family was fond of Marshall.
Marshall was married three times. His wives were Eleanor Turner, Jewel Jeanette Spurlin and Mary Emily Frances Horsey. He had one daughter with Jewel Spurlin: Shirley Jean who was adopted by Jewel Spurlin's second husband and her surname became Parker. His last marriage to Mary Frances Horsey in 1948, resulted in three children, all born in Jacksonville, Florida. Charles Robinson Cooper born in September of 1950 and twins born in February 1952: Marsha Luzanne Cooper and Miles Davis Cooper.
He retired from the Navy while serving at the Naval Base in Green Cove Springs, Florida, where the WWII mothballed fleet was stationed. He entered cabinet making school and practiced this trade until his death.
Marshall loved to hunt and fish and carved his own duck decoys and fishing lures. He was also a talented artist that enjoyed carving small wooden sculptures of animals, people and boats. Just before his death he had started carving a series of full-scale marionettes. Marshall was an artist of many talients and painting was just one of his outlets. He painted with oils on canvas and preferred to paint landscapes. He also enjoyed fast cars and raising rabbits. It was well known that Marshall had a "green thumb" and that he could grow anything anywhere but he especially enjoyed growing ornamentals like poinsettias, hibiscus and geraniums to mention a few. His love of gardening was something he got from his mother.
He was a loving husband and father. He died on June 29, 1957, while in the hospital at the Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. He was interred in the New Holt Cemetery, Holt, Florida, next his father, Charles Robinson Cooper and his grandparents, James Fountain Cooper and Lucyann Missouri Levins Cooper.
Written by: Charles Robinson (Robin) Cooper, first son of Marshall Fisher Cooper.
November 2002
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