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Sister Barbara Cooper, SNJM
Sister Robert Anthony
April 12, 1936 – August 12, 2022
Sister Barbara Cooper, SNJM departed this life on August 12, 2022 at St. Joseph’s Provincial House in Latham, New York.
Sister Barbara celebrated 86 years of life and 66 years of religious profession.
Her burial took place on August 24, 2022 at Calvary Cemetery, Glenmont, New York.
Sister Barbara Cooper, SNJM
Sister Robert Anthony
April 12, 1936 – August 12, 2022
Sister Barbara Cooper (Robert Anthony) died August 12, 2022, at the Sisters of St. Joseph (CSJ) Provincial House in Latham, after more than six decades of loving service as a Sister of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary. The first daughter of Robert and Harriett Harrington Cooper, Barbara was born and raised in St. Louis, Mo., though she moved among various government bases in six states because of her parents’ war-related careers. Her family had strong roots in the St. Louis area, and she spent many warmly-remembered years living with cousins and grandparents until the family settled in Silver Spring, Md., for her high school years. There she met the Sisters of the Holy Names and set off to their novitiate in 1954, to fulfill the dream she’d had since age six to become a sister.
Barbara’s kind, earnest, and generous ways endeared her to her colleagues and to the many first and second graders she taught in parish and Holy Names schools in New York, Florida, and Virginia. A reading teacher expert, she earned an education M.A. in 1971, while continuing to teach and use her excellent organizational skills as a principal. Though she loved teaching, she always felt a strong call to nursing as well. And, when it became clear that the Holy Names infirmaries had urgent need of hands-on and administrative staff, she volunteered to pursue the professional preparation for that work. She started nursing studies at Maria College and went on to earn an M.S. in nursing in 1987. She gained breadth of knowledge and invaluable experience in clinical and emergency settings and nursing supervision at Children’s Hospital, Washington, D.C., and St. Joseph’s Hospital, Tampa, Fla.
These years seemed a natural preparation for Barbara’s call to service in rural central Florida where she founded the nursing program at Indian River Community College, Okeechobee, Fla. She organized all essential structures for the fledgling program such as curriculum, accreditation, coordination of student admission and evaluation, and staffing. While she navigated the college instructional complexities, her title was assistant professor of nursing, but her role was midwife/animator/motivator/leader. After 15 years as nursing program coordinator and instructor, with hundreds of student lives transformed, Barbara retired from the college in 2006, and spent several years at the Academy of the Holy Names, Tampa, Fla., as school nurse and assisted the sisters with their health needs.
When her own health required it, Barbara moved to the CSJ care center in Latham in 2015. Here, even in her eighties, her service orientation and gentle strength made her a warm presence and able informal “volunteer” to patients and care-giving staff alike. She saw these years as a time of spiritual enrichment and deeply appreciated the prayerful atmosphere, caring staff, and community life. All of us Sisters of the Holy Names are grateful to the Sisters of St. Joseph for these blessings. The strong family bonds established back in her Missouri childhood with her grandparents, aunts, uncles and many cousins continued to shape and energize Sister Barbara’s whole religious life. Ann Sharp, her cousin, and Ann’s family were especially close to Barbara. She always had from these families the love and support that complemented her personal gifts and faithful prayer life. These graces animated the little girl, the stalwart young woman, the dedicated religious, beautifully expressed in a lifetime of learning and serving.