Juanita Cooper

Juanita Jenette Little Cooper, age 91, passed away on Wednesday, October 18, 2023, surrounded by her loving family at Lakeland Regional Health Medical Center in Lakeland, Florida.  She was born in Dayton, Ohio on July 10, 1932, one of five children to parents Drexel Charles and Jennie Ruth Davis Little.

Ms. Juanita was a loving wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, great-great-grandmother, sister, aunt, cousin, and friend, and the legacy that she leaves behind far extends just that of her family.  Ms. Juanita and her late husband, J. W. Cooper owned and operated Cooper’s Rocking Chair Retirement Home (ACFL accredited,) where she worked as cook and caregiver.

She is survived by her four children, Dorothea Flores, J.W. Cooper, Jr., Patricia Papageorgeon, and Esther Hughes; her daughter-in-law, Lauren Bemis Cooper; 27 grandchildren, 27 great-grandchildren, and 6 great-great-grandchildren, and a host of other family members and friends.  

She was preceded in death by her husband of 52 years, J.W. Cooper, Sr., two children, Teresa Leclaire and Don Black, and her parents, Drexel and Jennie Little.

Funeral services for Ms. Cooper will be held on Saturday, October 28, 2023 at 1 p.m. at the Covington Funeral Home, with interment to follow in Magnolia Gardens Cemetery in Covington, Tennessee.  Visitation for friends and family will begin two hours prior to the service in the chapel at the funeral home.  Friends are invited to City of Refuge Church, 2086 Atoka Idaville Road in Atoka for food and fellowship after the service.