Mrs. Annie Estell Cooper Obituary - Visitation & Funeral Information

God saw you getting weary... and he did what he thought best. He put his arms around you... and took you home to rest. We celebrate the Amazing Life of Mrs. Annie Estell Cooper. Annie was born on January 27th,1931 in Columbia, South Carolina. She was the daughter and the youngest of three children born to the late Robert Samuel Craft and Annie Gertrude Pickens Craft. She departed this earthly life on Saturday, May 6th, 2023 at MUSC- Health Downtown formerly known as Providence Hospital in Columbia, South Carolina. Mrs. Cooper was educated in the Richland County Public School System, where she graduated from the first graduating class of Booker T. Washington High School in 1949. In 1949, she married the love of her life, Arthur H. Cooper and to this union they were blessed with four children. Annie was a devoted housewife and mother to her four children. Later in life, she became a Teacher's Aide working with special needs children at the Withers School until her retirement. Annie's spiritual life began at Bethlehem Baptist Church of Columbia, South Carolina. From the age of five she was a faithful member. Annie served in the following capacities: on the choir, working with the food pantry, as a Trustee Wife, and most recently honored as Mother of the Church. In her spare time, Annie was passionate about gardening (a love she inherited from her mother). She was a wonderful cook, whose deviled eggs were world renowned, eventually earning her the nickname "Deviled Eggs Annie". Her youngest daughter’s children also gave her the nickname of "Grandma Sanders", because her fried chicken was so amazing. She was also an avid Word Search Puzzle Book player but recently found a new obsession in the Missing Vowels Puzzle Books. In addition to her parents, Mrs. Cooper was preceded in death by her husband Arthur Cooper, two brothers Robert Matthew Craft and Willie Wesley Craft and one grandson Matthew Ryan McNamee. Those left to cherish precious memories of her love and life are her sons; Arthur H. Cooper Jr. of Ridgeway, South Carolina and Calvin E. (Linda) Cooper of Columbia, South Carolina; two daughters Gwendolyn C. (Jimmy) Boykin of Columbia, South Carolina and Angela C. McNamee of Los Angeles, California; two sisters-in-law Helen Harvey of Capitol Heights, Maryland and Louise Dorsey of Suitland Maryland; one brother-in-law William A. (Doris) Cooper of Washington, D.C.; seven grandchildren; sixteen great-grandchildren; and a host of other loving relatives and friends

Mrs. Annie Estell Cooper

January 27, 1931 - May 6, 2023