Betty Maxine Cooper

Loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and wife Betty Maxine Cooper, 95, passed away peacefully on April 16, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Maxine was born on August 31, 1926 in West Frankfurt, Illinois to the late Harry and Ethel Stratman of Albuquerque, New Mexico. Her loving husband of almost 74 years, Thomas James “T. J.” Cooper passed away at the age of 96 on April 11, 2020. Her two daughters Nancy Holt, and husband Jim of Las Vegas, NV and Carolyn Cooper of Albuquerque, NM survive Maxine. Maxine and T.J. had one grandson, Joshua Thomas Simpson, and he and his wife Amanda live in Houston, TX.  Their twin boys, Cooper Jay and Koen Trent, were born on January 2, 2021 – Maxine’s first great grandchildren!  She had the wonderful opportunity to visit them shortly after they were born. She so loved seeing the many photos and videos of them over this past year. She also has three step grandchildren and their families living in Utah, New Mexico, and Arizona.  She and T.J. were blessed to have many wonderful nieces and nephews and their families living in Wyoming, Illinois, Indiana, and Texas.

After graduating from South Fork High School in Kincaid, Illinois in 1943 her family moved to Decatur. She attended Browns Business College and also worked at Mueller Company before going to work at the local Ordinance Company.  Maxine met the love of her life T.J. Cooper in Decatur, Illinois in 1944 and they married on June 30, 1946 at the Riverside Baptist Church in Decatur, IL. They shared almost 74 wonderful years by each other’s side.  In 1953 T. J. and Maxine packed up their family and moved from Decatur to Los Alamos, New Mexico where he hired on as a Mechanical Design Draftsman with the Los Alamos National Laboratory in 1953 until his retirement in 1989. Maxine stayed home with her two girls during their early years, and then went to work for the Los Alamos Schools. She loved being the secretary for many of the elementary schools and the high school.  At one point she moved to the Schools Administrative Office in support of the Superintendent.  She and T.J. loved participating in community service and soon after both of their retirements they joined the Hospital Auxiliary at the Los Alamos Medical Center in 1991 where they continued their volunteer work for 20 years. To this day those who worked at the hospital remember both of them with love and fond memories.  Maxine was a very loving, compassionate, Christian who served the Lord. Most every Sunday, you would find her and T. J. at the First Baptist Church in Los Alamos where they were members for over 65 years.  Many friends and family will miss Maxine.

A Memorial Service for Maxine will be held Friday, May 20, 2022, from 1:00 p.m. to 2:00 p.m. at FRENCH - Lomas with burial to follow at Sunset Memorial Park, in Albuquerque, NM.