Ellie May Cooper, age 90, a resident of Portland, Oregon passed away peacefully
at St. Vincent Hospital on Saturday, February 21, 2015.
Ellie May was born in Red Lodge, Montana, the youngest of four siblings. Her parents
Emma and Bernhard Rydberg immigrated to the United States in the early 1900’s and
settled in Red Lodge where they owned a jewelry store. Ellie May was an active
child who enjoyed the outdoors; roller skating and skiing. She attended Carbon County High School
and eventually moved to Spokane, Washington where she worked as a mechanic on military jeeps
and airplanes during World War II. After that she worked for the telephone company and later
for the Spokesman Review where she met and married George Lonza who passed away at an early age. While living in Spokane she met and married Wayne Cooper who she was married to for 50 years.
She later moved to Seattle where she would be a reporter for the
Seattle Post Intelligencer during the 1962 Worlds Fair. She raised her family in Spokane and later in Portland, Oregon where she resided and was an active member of St. Barnabas Church for over 40 years where she wrote for the church newsletter.
She was blessed with three daughters, 8 grandchildren, 6 great-grandchildren. She is survived by her daughters and son-in-laws, Vicki Duggins and son-in-law Bill Duggins, Christina Renwick and Karen Underwood and son-in-law Blake Underwood; her grandchildren, Mike, Sandy, Chris, Glenn, Josh, Jake, Dean and Haley and her great-grandchildren; Sinjin, Cassidy, Sydney, Max, Grace and baby Tyler,
Ellie May was devoted to her family and took great pride in raising her children, volunteering at school with children struggling with learning to read, spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, keeping a beautiful home and being a devout Christian.
A memorial service will be held Monday, March 2, 2015 at St. Barnabas Church, 2201 SW Vermont Street, Portland, OR at 12:30pm.