Saratoga News
News
Daughter of a pioneer family, Louise Garrod Cooper dies
By Shannon Burkey
Louise Garrod Cooper, the daughter of an early Saratoga pioneer family, died of heart failure on April 6. She was 90.
"She passed away at home peacefully with her family at her side," her son Bill Cooper said.
Louise Garrod Cooper and her family have deep roots in the Saratoga community going back five generations to when her grandparents, David and Sofia Garrod, emigrated from England with their three children and settled on 66 acres in the Saratoga hills in 1893.
The Garrods planted orchards on their new land and became successful growing apricots and prunes. Eventually, the business began to grow, allowing the family to acquire an additional 174 acres at the top of Mt. Eden, where they built their family ranch.
As the family business was booming, the family also played an important role in the agricultural history of the Santa Clara Valley.
Her father, Ralph Vincent Garrod, the oldest son of David and Sofia, fought for the farmer's cause during the early 1900s. He served as state president of the Farmers Union, was a member of the state board of agriculture and was the chairman of the agricultural committee for the 1939 World's Fair at Treasure Island.
By the time she was born to Ralph Vincent and his wife, Emma, on Feb. 1, 1917, the family had begun to make a name for itself in Saratoga, a place Cooper would call home most of her life.
As a young girl, she attended Saratoga Grammar School with lifelong friends Cecily Kyes and Olivia de Havilland. She graduated from Los Gatos High School in 1935.
After her high school graduation, she left Saratoga for Berkeley, where she earned a degree in public administration from UC-Berkeley in 1939.
But a degree is not all she found in Berkeley. She met her husband of 66 years, George Cooper, at the university while he was earning a degree in mining engineering.
The couple married in 1941 at Saratoga Federated Church.
During World War II, George Cooper served as a P47 pilot, which took the couple away from California. But after his service, the couple returned to Saratoga, where they built a house on the family's Mt. Eden ranch and raised their four children.
Son Bill said he would remember her as the terrific mother she was throughout his life.
"She was a wonderful, level-headed and well-rounded person," Bill Cooper said. "I've had 60 years of conversations with her, but even with all the conversations I've had with her, to know that there are no more, that's what's tough for me."
Although her family was always her top priority, Cooper also had a love for her community and the education of its children.
Through the years, she devoted an enormous amount of time to the schools in the area. She served as the first PTA president at Foothill Elementary School, Fruitvale School (now Redwood Middle School) and Saratoga High School, and she helped organize the Saratoga-Los Gatos PTA District.
From 1963 to 1979, she served on the board of the Los Gatos-Saratoga Joint Union High School District and was president for three of those years. She went on to become a board member of the West Valley-Mission College Foundation and represented it on the Olympiad of the Arts Committee.
Longtime friend Chuck Newport, a Saratoga High School history teacher, remembers when Cooper joined the school board in 1963 and said he is not surprised by how much she did for the schools because that's the kind of person she was.
"She stepped forward and took some responsibility for the community schools," Newport said. "It was more than just being involved--she took a positive interest in what was going on."
When it came to the Saratoga community, Cooper took an active role in enriching it as well.
For 45 years, she worked with the Saratoga Historical Foundation, which her mother helped establish in 1962, Cooper served on its board, many of those years as president, until she retired in October 2006. After her retirement, the board created a director emeritus position for her and her death will mark the first time since the Historical Foundation's creation that neither a Garrod or Cooper has been on the board.
"She was such a great presence on the board," president Chuck Schoppe said. "She provided so much historical perspective about early Saratoga and its people and she never forgot a name. The whole Garrod Cooper family is special; they are warm and generous, and Louise was a real treasure. We're really going to miss her."
In addition to her other community work, Cooper was named Citizen of the Year by the Saratoga Chamber of Commerce in 1990 and was a member of the Saratoga Foothill Club, the American Association of University Women and the PEO Sisterhood.
"She epitomized the very best of citizenship," Newport said. "She was involved in her community and made a positive difference because it was the responsible thing to do. She was always a positive presence in what was going on."
She is survived by her husband of 66 years, George Emery Cooper; her daughter, Barbara Louise Cooper of Pleasant Hill; her sons and their wives, William and Doris Cooper of Saratoga, James and Nancy Cooper of La Selva Beach, David Cooper and Kathi Hart of Foxfield, Colo.; 11 grandchildren; her brother and his wife Vince and Jane Garrod of Saratoga; sisters-in-law Edna May Garrod of Sacramento and Marjorie Bougher of El Dorado; and many nieces and nephews.
A public celebration of life will be held May 5 at 3:30 p.m. at the Saratoga Foothill Club. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Saratoga Historical Foundation, P.O. Box 172, Saratoga, CA, 95071 or to the Saratoga Foothill Club Historic Landmark Foundation, P.O. Box 2233, Saratoga, CA, 95070.
