Daniel William Cooper Jr., age 89, of Slidell, Louisiana, found lasting peace on Jan. 2, 2025. Daniel was born Jan. 27, 1935, in New Orleans to Daniel William Cooper Sr. and Bertha Braquet Cooper, and grew up in the Ninth Ward on Alvar St. He served as an Airman on the USS Intrepid during the Korean War and used the GI Bill to graduate from LSU with a bachelor's degree in civil engineering.

He spent his career at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in the Construction division and retired at age 55 to spend time fishing, gardening, and hanging out at boat launches. He was fond of fresh seafood, fast boats, Cajun music, rigging up contraptions. His favorite retort was "go jump in the lake."

A blind date at a Mardi Gras ball with Charlotte Claire Helmstetter resulted in 38 years of marriage, until her death in 2005. She was a pillar of the St. Margaret Mary School community, and the school library still bears her name. They had three children: Daniel William Cooper III, who died in 1969; Charmaine Colette Cooper Hussain of New Orleans, Louisiana; and Darren William Cooper (Anne Louise Malyska) of Verona, New Jersey. Although he rooted for a granddaughter, he had four grandsons: Simon Gabriel Hussain, John Anthony Cooper, Cole Augustine Cooper and Daniel Austin Cooper. He was the oldest of six siblings and is predeceased by his brothers Allan and David, and survived by two brothers, Jean and Michael Cooper, and a sister, Jeanne Dufour.

Squirrels can finally have all the birdseed he put in his feeders without fear of retribution.

Visitation is from 9 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. Monday, Jan. 13, 2025, with a mass immediately following, at St. Margaret Mary Church, 1050 Robert Blvd., Slidell, LA 70458. After mass, there will be a committal service with full military honors at Forest Lawn Cemetery, 1751 Gause Blvd W., Slidell, LA 70460.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations in Daniel's memory to the Charlotte Cooper Memorial Library at St. Margaret Mary School, 1050A Robert Blvd., Slidell, LA 70458.