Following a lengthy struggle with cancer, Cathleen “Cathy” Dee Cooper, 70, passed away Thursday, August 21, 2020.  She was formerly a resident of Royal Oak, Michigan and moved to Colorado Springs to be with her sister and her family.  Cathleen died in the hospice ward of Penrose Hospital.

Cathleen was preceded in death by her husband of 16 years, Charles Clark Cooper, and her parents, all of Michigan.  She is survived by her sister, Colleen Pustola (Bruno) and their five children, Donald Pustola of Huntsville, AL, Diane Pustola, Delaine (Pustola) Allen, Darcy (Pustola) Rhoads and Derek Pustola, all of Colorado Springs, Colorado.  In Michigan, Cathleen is survived by Charles’ children: Michelle Wood (Mike) and their two  children, Michael and Christopher, all of Fife Lake and by Chuck Cooper (Tammy) and their two children, Amanda and Jessica, all of Hazel Park.

Cathleen was born November 19, 1949 in San Francisco, California to Jack and Irma Bower.  She was baptized in 1961 at Highland Presbyterian Church in El Paso, Texas and graduated from Edwin Denby High School, Detroit Michigan in 1968.

Cathleen served in the U.S. Army Women’s Army Corps (W.A.C.) for 4-1/2 years.  She was inducted into service June 29, 1968 during the half-time activities of a Detroit Tigers baseball game at Tiger Stadium in Detroit, Michigan.  The group of women Cathleen was sworn in with the first W.A.C. company in the history of the Women’s Army Corps entering basic training as a unit.  It was also the first all-women’s unit from Michigan.  The company was nicknamed the “Tiger Company” and sent to Fort McClellan, Alabama for basic training.

After Fort McClellan, Cathleen was sent to Brooke General Army Hospital, Fort Sam Houston, Texas for basic and advanced medical training.  Her first assignment was at Brooke where, as part of the permanent party, she worked in the cardiac unit, gastroenterlogy/communicable disease and male surgical wards, and the recovery room/intensive care unit.  From Texas Cathleen was transferred, on January 1, 1969, to Camp Kue, Ryis, Okinawa where she worked in the surgical recovery room/intensive care unit tending Viet Nam conflict casualties prior to their return to the stateside military hospitals.  She returned to Oakland Army Base, California a few days prior to receiving an honorable discharge June 24, 1971.

Cathleen returned to Detroit.  She attended the Computer Management Institute for a year, graduating in June, 1972.  She then reenlisted into the Army on September 1st, 1972, receiving assignment to Patterson Army Hospital at Fort Monmouth, New Jersey.  Cathleen was next transferred to Fitzsimmons Army Hospital in Aurora, Colorado for the Army’s licensed practical nursing school.  Her next assignment took her to Fort Meade, Maryland where she received her second discharge October 25, 1973.  Cathleen left the Army at the rank of Specialist Fourth Class (SP4).  She received the National Defense Service Medal during her military tenure.

Cathleen’s civilian career again entrenched her in the medical field.  She moved to Killeen, Texas until 1974 when she moved to Clarksville, Tennessee.  There she worked as a private duty nurse and at the Clarksville Manor Nursing Home as a physical therapy assistant and aide.

Cathleen returned to Detroit in May, 1977.  For the next eleven years she was employed in multiple clerical positions for doctors in and around the city.  On January 12, 1982, Cathleen became a State of Michigan Notary Public for Wayne County.

In 1986 Cathleen accepted a position as a computer programmer/technician and training director.  Using her computer skills and medical background, she wrote the handbook, “Physicians Medical Insurance Billing Computer Program Instruction Manual” which taught trainees in simplified terms how to use that particular software.

Cathleen moved to Altoona, Pennsylvania in 1988 where she returned to private duty nursing.  In 1995 she moved to Mechanicsburg and began working as an assistant department manager for WalMart in Kingstown, Pennsylvania.

Around 1999 Cathleen returned to Detroit to take care of her mother after the passing of her father.  There, she also returned to WalMart’s employ where she was a pharmacy technician and department manager.  Cathleen spent a total of just over 7 years with the WalMart corporation.

At the age of 53 Cathleen met the love of her life, Charles Cooper.  They married June 2nd, 2003 at the office of the District Judge in Harper Woods, Michigan.  She considered the next sixteen years the happiest of her life.  She retired from working and enjoyed her life as a homemaker, a seamstress and gardener.

Cathleen took after her great-grandmother in stature, standing just 4’10” and weighing an average of 90 pounds.  As small as she was, Cathleen was fierce in attitude when stirred to protectiveness or anger, and many times her forthright approach to people had no filter.  After so many years on her own, she was strongly independent.   Yet, she hid a soft, sensitive soul seen only to those who were in her inner circle.  Cathleen was also a chronic organizer, putting many of her small belongings, including clothing and kitchen flatware and tools, into small dividers and boxes inside drawers.  Yes, she was quirky like that.

She was a member of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Post #6704 and the American Legion Post #101, both in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.  She transferred her American Legion membership to Post #0253 in Royal Oak probably in 2003.

In her last days, Cathleen enjoyed building relationships with her nieces and their soulmates, her nephew and family friends. 

Following her cremation, Cathleen’s ashes will be sent on to the Great Lakes National Cemetery in Holly, Michigan.

There will be no funeral service.  Instead, a Celebration of Life is planned for August 30, 2020 at the home of her sister where family will gather.  A second Celebration of Life will be held in Michigan, the date yet to be determined.