Elaine Ladona Cooper

ELAINE LADONA COOPER August 14, 1928 – January 19, 2022 Elaine LaDona (Tibben) Cooper passed away at Spring Village at Pocono in East Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania on January 19, 2022, at the age of 93 due to complications from Parkinson’s Disease. She was preceded in death by her husband of 72 years, Earl D. Cooper, who passed away on July 3, 2021. Elaine is survived by her children, Denise and Karl Cooper and her grandchildren Huntly and Mac Cooper, her sister, Lois Stangohr, in-laws John and Jacqueline Cooper and five nieces and a nephew, along with their families. A daughter of the Midwest, Elaine was born on August 14, 1928 to Charles F. Tibben and Helen P. (Roepke) Tibben on their farm in Guthrie County, Iowa. She was raised on her parents’ farms, first in Guthrie County and, later, Carroll County, Iowa, attending elementary school in a one-room schoolhouse. She graduated from eighth grade with honors and attended Carroll High School. A neighbor drove her to and from school in his Ford Model T which needed to be started with a hand crank. After graduating from Carroll High School, Elaine attended George Washington University in Washington D.C., earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in history in 1948. In May1948, she met First Lady, Bess Truman, after Mrs. Truman invited the GW women graduates to a tea party at the White House to celebrate their graduation. While in college, Elaine worked at the U.S. Treasury Department, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, the Red Cross and the GW Alumni Office. After graduation from college, Elaine moved with her parents to southern California and worked as the Office Manager of the Department of Germanic Languages at UCLA in West Los Angeles, California. Elaine moved back to the East Coast to marry her husband, Earl, a life-long resident of Northern Virginia. They were wed on April 16, 1949 at Our Savior Lutheran Church in Arlington, Virginia. A devout Lutheran, Elaine along with Earl were instrumental in the expansion of the Wisconsin Evangelical Lutheran Synod to the mid-Atlantic region from the Midwest helping to found the first WELS congregation located on the East Coast. In 1991, Elaine and Earl launched their Global Marketing Group as independent business owners for Amway and worked to develop networks in Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic. In 2008, Elaine and Earl retired to the Pocono Mountains. A funeral service will be held at the Bensing-Thomas Funeral Home, 401 North 5th Street, Stroudsburg, PA 18360 on Saturday, January 29, 2022. Visitation commences at noon followed by the service beginning at 1:00 pm. Interment will take place at the Washington Crossing National Cemetery, Newtown, PA on January 31, 2022. In lieu of flowers, donations in Elaine’s memory may be made to Immanuel Lutheran Church, 40 Coleman Rd, Long Valley, NJ 07853, or to the Parkinson’s Foundation, www.parkinson.org.