Michael Cooper

Private family services for Michael C. Cooper, 39, of Killeen will be held. Mr. Cooper died December 3, 2010, in a local hospital. He was born February 6, 1971, in StuttgartBad Cannstatt, Germany, to a military family.

Mr. Cooper moved to Killeen in 1979 and graduated from Killeen High School in 1989. He then attended Tarleton State University in Stephenville from 1990 to 1996, earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 2000.

He received his EMT license in the 1990s and was a volunteer EMT for three years in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

Mr. Cooper worked as a shop and technical director for the College of Wooster and Ohio Light Opera in Wooster, Ohio, from 1996 to 2000. He attended graduate courses at Ohio University in Athens, Ohio, and worked as a grad assistant in the theater department. He then worked for Atlas Scenic Studios in Bridgeport, Connecticut, where he drafted and built scenes and sets for Broadway and touring companies from 2002 to 2007.

He was a member of the IATSE 331, where he continued to work when called on jobs for Central Texas after 2007. Most recently Mr. Cooper was a Walmart Associate for both the Temple and Killeen stores.

Survivors include his mother, Nancy C. Cooper of Killeen sister, Barbara J. CooperPabis and her husband, Joseph A. Pabis, of Suffolk, Virginia grandmother Jean B. Callender of Harker Heights and one niece, Callen J. Pabis of Suffolk, Virginia.

He was preceded in death by his father, Roy C. Cooper, grandparents, Michael B. Callender, Roy C. Cooper and Elizabeth Cooper.

Memorials may be made to the Second Chance Animal Shelter in Killeen.

HarperTalasek Funeral Home in Killeen is in charge of arrangements.

Memorial Contributions