Richard “Rick” Ferguson Cooper, born Dec. 17, 1953 stepped into heaven during his sleep on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2023 at the age of 70 in his home in Blacksburg.
Rick moved to Blacksburg from his home in northern Virginia to attend Virginia Tech. He fell in love with the scenic mountain landscape, adventurous spelunking (exploration of underground caves) opportunities and its community members, and small town life around Virginia Tech and remained employed in the Electrical Engineering department at Virginia Tech until his retirement, loving every minute of it, even the difficult parts. He taught Electrical Engineering labs, sharing his passion and expertise with students and anyone interested; he lived and breathed the Hokie motto of Ut Protism (that I may serve).
He married Debora “Debbie” Massa Cooper on March 18, 1978 after proposing while wearing a cute, red, bow collar to jokingly prove to her that he was THE ONE that she had waited for “a sign” of, and together they enjoyed 45 years of amazing love, abundant laughter, casual construction and renovation projects, horseback riding, and farming of a hay field.
Rick reunited in heaven with his father, Richard Cooper, and his mother, Mary Louise Cooper, and he is survived by his wife, Debbie, his daughter, Amanda Christine Cooper, his brother, Michael Cooper, his sister Stephanie Cooper, and many wonderful nieces and nephews.
The memorial will be held on Friday, Dec. 29, 2023 at Dwelling Place Christian Fellowship located at 3325 N Franklin St, Christiansburg, VA 24073 with visitation at 2 p.m. and a service at 4 p.m.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to either Rick’s church in Blacksburg, VA: Dwelling Place Christian Fellowship https://onrealm.org/DwellingPlaceCh/give/benevolence or the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundationwww.jdrf.org.
