R.E. Cooper Meritorious Award Founding Member

Florence Louise Cooer née Edgecombe was born in the settlement of McKanns, Long Island, Bahamas on the 16th day of February, A.D., 1920 and was the last child of Peter Edgecombe and Cassandra Edgecombe formerly Turnquest.

Florrie, as she was affectionately called, attended the McKanns All-Age School and often spoke warmly of her teacher, “Cloe” Brice. Throughout her life, she sang songs and recited poems which were cemented in her memory from her childhood. For Florrie, the years of the twenties were happy and innocent, and a time of learning the fine qualities that make a virtuous woman, an exemplary mother, a faithful and devoted wife.
The period of the thirties saw Florrie blossom into a charming, elegant, young woman. Little did she know that the first sign of her would win the heart of the young, educated, Baptist Minister from the settlement of George Town, Exuma, Bahamas.

Thus began the forties. It was on July 5, 1940 at the Burial Ground Residence of his late mother, Nurse Cecelia Cooper, that Florence Louise Edgecombe become the lawful, wedded wife of the Reverend Reuben Edward Cooper.

“Florie,”  the noble appellation which was given her when she became the wife of a prominent Baptist minister, was the last surviving charter member of the historic Mission Baptist Church, Hay & East Streets, which was organized on December 29, 1940.

Along with several other ladies, including Mother Cecelia Cooper, Margaret Bullard, Jessie Rahming who made up the small band of believers, led by the capable leadership of her husband, the Dr. R. E. Cooper, Senior, together, they organized this fledging congregation into what we now know as the Mission Baptist Church.

Also, during the forties, Lady Cooper gave birth to four of her ten children: Ruby Ann, Irene Alene, Fanny Crosby, and Richard Peter.

The opening of the fifties, January 8, 1952, proved to be a challenge. Lady Cooper, who was generously entertaining out of town guests at Rose Island, returned to a heap of rubble which was once home and church. However, through this difficult period, coupled with austere economic times, she was still able to smile, rebuild, regroup and replenish.

Lady Cooper dedicated her gifts completely to the glory of Christ and His Church, and was untiring in her efforts to develop the Kingdom of our Savior. She was responsible for the educational development of Mission in 1953 with the establishment of “The Citidel”, the Mission Baptist Church Day School for early child development over-the-hill. This school was instrumental in honing the young, inquisitive minds of many of the leading citizens of our country and served as a “feeder source” for the Jordan Memorial Schools during the latter period of the fifties and sixties. Many of our national leaders cite this school as the foundation for the educational and professional status they now enjoy.

It was during the fifties that the other four of her ten children were born: John James, Primrose, Reuben Edward and Nathaniel Arthur.
During the sixties, Lady Cooper became actively involved in the struggle for majority political rule here in The Bahamas. She was also among the first women to exercise her constitutional right when women were given the right to vote. This period saw the birth of her two youngest children: Bertha Louise and Carmella Michelle.

The seventies proved to be a challenge for Lady Cooper who was a domestic engineer and the matriarch of her family. She relocated to Miami and set up housekeeping, while Nathaniel, Bertha and Carmella completed their high school education. While in the state of Florida, the church she attended in her neighborhood paid a glowing tribute to her as an exemplary Christian woman. This she undoubtedly was and she continually encouraged her children to be productive in their various vocations and professions as respectable individuals from a Christian home.

Lady Cooper gave her children all that she had to give – her love, confidence and support. She gave of herself selflessly and in totality.
The opening year of the eighties brought sorrow for Lady Cooper when her husband predeceased her on October 2, 1980. A woman of indomitable strength, faith and courage, Lady Cooper’s contributions to the Mission Baptist Church, which was her late husband’s legacy, did not stop when he died. She continued to serve the members of Mission and served for over fifty years with distinction by volunteering her skills and services whenever and wherever they were best needed.

Realizing that the church was a part of God’s eternal plan and that she too had a place in God’s master plan when He planned the Church, Lady Cooper utilized her spiritual gifts for the growth and unification of the Mission Baptist Church. She served faithfully in developing this ministry and was a systematic tither and contributor to the Christmas Savings Fund. She looked forward with great expectation to the new ministry which commenced on Blake Road assured that it would be used to uplift humanity in countless ways.