Raymond Cooper has passed away at the age of ninety-two.  He is survived by his children, Jan Morgan and husband David, Chris Cooper and wife Debra, Mark Cooper and wife Debbie,grandchildren Elizabeth Knapp, Jonathan Morgan, Jacob Cooper, Emily George, Audrey Daniels, Amber Foster, Ashley Thurmond, and Benjamin Cooper as well as a host of great-grandchildren. He is preceded in death by his wife of sixty-eightyears, Sue Anderson Cooper and grandson, Jeffrey Cooper.

Raymond was born in Dallas on May 1st, 1932.  The youngest of twelve children, he grew up on a farm off Pleasant Valley Road and later settled in Garland, Texas.  He attended Garland schools, and it was there he met our mother, Sue Anderson, and they were wed on November 16th, 1951. They bought a home in Garland and by 1959 their three children were born, and our family was complete.

Other than chores on the farm, his first job was at the A&P grocery store.  From there, he worked at Cooper Concrete, the loading dock at Texas Instruments, and as a shop manager at Hermetic Seal in Garland. It was there he developed the skills needed for his next endeavor.  In 1956, Raymond foundedUniversal Transformer Company in a small building off Oak and Ballard streets in Wylie. Within a year or so he purchased the land surrounding Cooper Drive and built a more suitable factory there.  Times were hard but our mother and father persevered.  The situation was rather bleak by the mid-sixties when longtime friend and business associate John L. (Jack) Bostic stepped forward and bought half of the struggling company.  That infusion of cash kept the company afloat until circumstances improved. I've heard it said that luck occurs when preparation meets opportunity. After preparing for more than a decade, opportunity appeared when the phone rang with an inquiry from the Tandy Corporation of Radio Shack and American TandyCraft. The engineer was developing a bottle cutter for sale in their stores and requested two thousand five hundred samples. In the years that followed, Universal Transformer built tens of thousands of transformers for them. Raymond always credited that job with securing the financial future of the company.

In 1973, Raymond moved our family to Wylie.  He was very active in the community helping others who wanted to start a business here. Also, he participated in activities such as the Wylie FFA Stock Show and Sale and the Chamber of Commerce. Through the years Raymond received many awardssuch as Citizen of the Year, Twenty-One for the Twenty First Century, 2006 Living Legend by Collin County, the 2020 Legacy Manufacturing, the 2012 Wylie Way Award, and 2023 Garrison Legacy Award from the WISD Education Foundation, and many others. While grateful to Wylie for these awards, the one that touched him most was in the naming of the Raymond B. Cooper Junior High School.  He attended many events thereand enjoyed interacting with the children. He was amused thatthey couldn't believe someone could be as old as he was.

In 1993 Raymond stepped down as president of Universal Transformer Company.  Never one to be idle, he set his sights on a new challenge, the Wylie Christian Care Center.  The WCCC started as a closet in the First Baptist Church of Wylie under the auspices of the Wylie Ministerial Alliance but Raymond had a vision. It was there he developed a friendship with Rev. Al Draper.  Raymond brought the business savvy the organization needed, and Brother Draper provided the spiritual guidance that Raymond needed.  With the help of a large cast of volunteers and financial contributors, the Care Center has grown from that one closet to the permanent location it currentlyoccupies on Brown Street serving the needs of this community. Raymond said "I always felt a responsibility to help others because so many people helped me along the way".

Time marches on, and life is fleeting. About three weeks ago Dad suffered two falls which put his health into a downward spiral. Despite the wonderful care he received at Richardson Methodist Hospital and Lynridge Assisted Living, Raymond succumbed to his rapidly deteriorating health and passed away quietly the morning of October 3th, 2024. It wouldn't surprise me if he is already putting together a new project in Heaven. Glory be to God for the life of Raymond Cooper.

The family has requested Memorial Gifts to:

The Wylie Christian Care Center

P.O Box 262

Wylie, Texas 75098

Wylie United Methodist Church

1401 Country Club Rd.

Wylie, Texas 75098