Obituary of CLAIRE C. COOPER

Mrs. Claire C. Cooper (nee DeSouza) died Wednesday, April 6, 2005 at the Somerset Medical Center in Somerville. She was 73. Born in New Amsterdam, Guyana, she immigrated to the United States in 1963 settling in Newark. She had lived in Toms River and Old Bridge before moving to Montville Township in 1984. Mrs. Cooper was a graduate of the New Amsterdam Hospital School of Nursing in Guyana and later earned a Bachelor of Science in 1979 from Jersey City State College in Health Sciences and Education. A registered nuse, she had worked as a nurse and midwife at the New Amsterdam Hospital in Guyana, and later as a head nurse at Beth Israel Medical Center in Newark. She had also worked as a public health nurse for the towns of Toms River and Montville, and as a school nurse and educator with the Irvington Board of Education. She retired in 1992. Mrs. Cooper became a United States Citizen in 1968. She was a member of St. Pius X Roman Catholic Church in Montville, the Guyanese Cultural Association of New Jersey, the Guyana Clublanders Association of Brooklyn, and the Guyanese Nurse's Association. She was preceded in death by her loving husband William A. Cooper in 2003. Survivors include, Three daughters, Bernadette, Dawn, and Wendy; two sons, Cordell and Michael; three sisters, Clara, Sheila, and Joan; a brother Clive; eleven grandchildren and one great-grandchild.