Harold William Cooper was born at 3:00 AM on a Monday morning, March 31st, 1930 (& died on Veterans Day, 2001). His mother was Lissa, his father Frank. He had two sisters, Alice and Elizabeth (with Mary to come two years later). Herbert Hoover was in his second year in office, with the great depression about to begin. Growing up was hard in the 30s. Work was scarce and nothing went to waste. Milk was thickened with cornstarch, and socks were darned to save on the cost of a new pair. On Saturday nights, the children would await their turn to bathe in the basin on the kitchen floor...youngest child first. After moving about for several years, the Cooper family moved into a two-story house on Killingsworth Court. The cost of the house was $1,250.00—with the large sum of $12.50 per month. A favorite hobby of Harold’s was building balsa wood model airplanes, like the fighter jets from his Tom Swift novels. When he had enough, he would send them, one-by-one, out of the upper bedroom window, ablaze. Another of his passions was tormenting his younger sister, Mary—the older girls not being fair game. One of Harold’s chores at home was to keep the kitchen wood stove supplied with wood and kindling. The wood was stored in the cellar near the dumbwaiter, which made his job easier—that is until he tried using it as an elevator, at which time he found himself again carrying the firewood up the stairs by hand. Harold’s first job was delivering the newspaper for the Portland Telegraph. At $2 a month, it took what seemed like forever to save enough money to purchase a brand new bicycle for $17.00. Unfortunately, it was stolen the next day. The variety of jobs he took as a boy included picking hops and berries, setting bowling pins at the lanes (before machines were used), busing tables in a restaurant (until he spilled soup on a woman’s fur coat), and anything he could do to make a dollar. The mischievous side of Harold would always be remembered by the trolley car conductor who, at the end of his run would have to walk to the back of the car to switch the connector to a different set of power lines. Harold and his friends would jump aboard and take off with the trolley, with the conductor in pursuit. Devising simple entertainment was a necessity in such lean times. At the end of World War II Harold decided to enlist into the army while still very young. He wanted to make something of his life. Before he knew it, he found himself in occupied Japan. It was 1946 and he was only16 years old. While in the army, he saved enough money to purchase his parents a new gas stove and electric refrigerator. Things were beginning to look up. As soon as Harold was discharged from the army and he had some money saved, he decided he was going to purchase a car. He went to the local car dealer and, soon, drove off the lot in an old Model T. It was a winding path on the way back home: he had never “trained” at driving a car before. One night Harold found himself at a restaurant with some friends when he noticed a girl sitting in a booth nearby. To make an unforgettable first impression he climbed over the back of the booth and landed directly across from the pretty girl. Her name was Gloria Allen. He had gotten her attention, to say the least—and they were married the following year. In 1951, the newlyweds moved to California in search of work and prosperity. However, the stress of uprooting themselves and moving away from their families (and the lack of work down South) forced them to return to Portland. The following year they were planning to return to California—and then Susan was born…. Steven was to follow, and then Scott and Sally. Harold was destined to remain an Oregonian. Though he was a trained carpenter, Harold began an upholstery business with a childhood friend, and for the next twenty years he built and supplied whatever upholstered products happened to be in demand. First, it was chairs and sofas. Then diamond tufted velvet headboards, and finally wooden waterbed frames that was all the rave in the seventies. After building a cabin at the coast as a family retreat, Harold realized how much he missed building. It wasnt long before he was back to his roots, building and remodeling houses in Portland and at the coast. Harold and Gloria built one dream house after another as their lives shifted and changed, and what soon became a steadily growing family of grandchildren. Along the way, he enjoyed an active lifestyle that included hunting and fishing, water and snow skiing, hiking and gardening. He loved the performing arts, cinema and literature. After his retirement in 1995, he and Gloria pursued their greatest passion: Travel. In an oversize motor home, they journeyed throughout the country several times a year, following a dream that was borne of years of work and raising a family. This time of traveling and playing was precious to them both. On October 27th, 2001 Harold and Gloria celebrated their 50th Golden Wedding Anniversary. A half century of life together, of love, of accomplishment and joy. Happy 84th birthday, Harold. March 31st, 2014
Posted on: Tue, 01 Apr 2014 02:57:00 +0000
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