B. Jack Cooper

B. Jack Cooper (81), of Arcadia, Indiana, passed away peacefully on May 9, 2023, surrounded by family on the farm he loved.

Jack was born on November 17, 1941, to Roland Cooper and Stella (Amburgy) Cooper in Stay, Kentucky.  The family soon moved to Ohio and ultimately settled in Waynesville, where Jack grew up helping his father on the family farm.

Jack attended Milligan College in east Tennessee, where he met his wife of almost 60 years, Marilyn Knapp.  After marrying Marilyn on June 8, 1963, and graduating from college, Jack took on a supervisory position at General Motors in Anderson, Indiana, where he worked for 31 years until his retirement in 1996 to focus fulltime on farming.  Jack and Marilyn raised three children during those years:  Connie (“Sis”), Scott, and David.

Jack had a great love for his family and his farm.  He bailed hay for almost his entire life.  He farmed, gardened, and raised animals on the same land in Arcadia for more than 50 years and was actively farming at age 81.  Jack could often be spotted during harvest time in his 1973 red Chevy two-ton truck, hauling grain to the mill.

A man of deep faith, Jack was an elder at Arcadia Christian Church for many years.  Jack was honest to the core with a strong work ethic and a kind heart.  He loved his wife, children, and grandchildren – and also enjoyed his John Deere equipment and Cadillac.  Family highlights included vacation trips to Florida, east Tennessee, and Arizona, as well as a trip with Marilyn and church friends to Israel.

Jack is survived by his wife Marilyn, his daughter Connie Marie Dove and son-in-law Ronald G. Dove, Jr. (Derwood, Maryland), his son Scott Wayne Cooper and daughter-in-law Kimberly (Kiburis) Cooper (Howell, Michigan), his son David Christopher Cooper (Noblesville, Indiana), and his four grandchildren, Christopher Dove, Michaela (Dove) Herron, married to Sterling Herron, Daniel Cooper, and Benjamin Cooper.  Jack is also survived by Marilyn’s younger brother, John Knapp, who Jack always considered as a second brother, as well as John’s wife Sharon Knapp, Jack’s sister-in-law Sharon Cooper, brother-in-law Pete Cochran, and sister-in-law Judy Knapp.  Jack was preceded in death by both his parents, his brother Bill Cooper, and his sister Betty Ruth Cochran, as well as Marilyn’s parents Raymond and Elizabeth Knapp and older brother Larry Knapp.

Visitation will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2023, at Arcadia Christian Church, 26901 N. State Road 19, Arcadia, Indiana, from 10:00 a.m. – 12 p.m.  A funeral service will be held immediately thereafter.

Donations may be made to the Missions Fund at Arcadia Christian Church, 26901 N. State Road 19, P.O. Box 544, Arcadia, IN 46030.

Jack will be laid to rest at Cicero Cemetery, 5 Morse Court, Cicero, Indiana.

Arrangements are entrusted to Hartley Funeral Homes Cicero Chapel, where you may leave condolences at www.hartleyfuneralhomes.com.

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