THE heritage-listed Union Church at Powelltown was filled with mourners on 8 February as family and friends of Stan Cooper gathered to say their goodbyes.
A long-time resident of the area, and former Shire of Upper Yarra councillor and shire president, Mr Cooper was widely regarded as an honourable man who was well-respected.
He died on 4 February at 88 years of age at his Gilderoy home following a long illness.
A celebration of his life was conducted by Healesville Uniting Church Minister, Rev. David Howie.
Mr Cooper moved to the Yarra Valley with his family in 1950 when he bought a dairy farm at the small town of Gilderoy.
He had served six years of war service in the R.A.A.F. flying in Wirraways patrolling the North Queensland Coast, then in Vultee Vengeance dive-bombers. In the last year of World War II, he was a flight lieutenant instructing at Port Pirie in South Australia.
He became a councillor of the Shire of Upper Yarra in the early 1960s and served three terms as shire president.
He represented the area on the Municipal Association and was appointed to the Environmental Protection Council, National Parks Council and the Health Commission.
In 1976, Mr Cooper became one of three members of the state government’s States Grants Commission, visiting the then 111 shires in Victoria to assess them for government grants.
“It was said at his funeral, if you were not on a committee with Stan Cooper, then you were not on a real committee,” his grand-daughter, Jayne Yates, said.
At the service, Reverend Roy Westaway spoke of his friendship with Mr Cooper in the 1950s when as Home Mission Pastor at Yarra Junction, he rode his motor scooter to conduct monthly services at the Powelltown church where the Cooper family were members of the congregation.
Friend Keith Thomas, also a former Upper Yarra councillor, spoke of Mr Cooper’s involvement with the Warburton Bowls Club and his contribution to the community as a founding member of both the Warburton Senior Citizens Club and the Yarra Junction Museum.
“Stan was the chairman of the fundraising committee which we formed in 1964 to establish the Senior Citizens Club and he was still chairman when on 8 December, 1968, the centre was opened,” Mr Thomas said.
He said he was also chairman of the local historical society when it moved to Yarra Junction where they established the Yarra Junction Museum.
“We called him the late Stan Cooper because he was always late to meetings,” Mr Thomas reflected fondly.
“And, the reason for that,” he added, “was simply because he was on so many committees. We always wondered how he ever found time to serve them all so very well.”
In his spare time, Mr Cooper enjoyed building boats and taking the family water skiing on Lake Eildon. He also had a great interest in vintage cars and was the proud owner of a Goggomobile Dart.
Ms Yates said as a Justice of the Peace, her grandfather was known to many people for his practical, caring and wise advice.
“He was known for his strength of will and courage in standing up for what he believed in and was referred to by some as an outstanding character who one could always look up to,” Ms Yates said. “His legacy is one of fair dealings, honesty and principle.”
In another touching tribute, his seven-year-old great-granddaughter, Emily, wrote a poem. “You were nice to others and you had lots of friends. We loved you so very much,” she wrote.
Mr Cooper is survived by his wife of 64 years, Dorothy (lovingly known by her husband as “Jimmy”), his children, Jenny, Pete and Dianne, five grandchildren, Tina, Sam, Jayne, Leanne and Michael, and nine great-grandchildren. He will be sadly missed by his family and friends.
Kath Gannaway
