Gwendolyn Cooper

Gwen Cooper died June 26 2022. She had cancer only determined in the last few weeks. Gwen died in her sleep at her home of 44 years with her husband John at her side. Gwen and John were married 54 years. Gwen had a small business: Gwen Cooper Portraits. Starting in the early eighties until she retired at age 75 in August 2019 Gwen painted about 1000 water color portraits, mostly of children. Gwen graduated from the University of Florida (Gainesville) in 1966 with a bachelors degree in Interior Design. Gwen met her husband to be, John, in London England in 1967. Gwen and John were married in April 1968 in Gainesville FL and spent the next 10 years in Montreal Quebec where Gwen had an Interior Design business. Gwen and John had a son Matthew in August 1975 born in Montreal with a mother from the USA and a father from the UK. Gwen and John moved to Jacksonville in 1978 and have lived in the same Ortega house for 44 years. Gwen and John had their son Chris in January 1979. Chris tragically died in 2019. Gwen would have preferred a donation in her name to Sulzbacher rather than flowers. However, if you have a spare Faberge egg, Gwen would have like one of those. Gwen was not religious in the traditional sense and attended the UUCJ church for about 22+ years. She really enjoyed the Spirituality meetings. Gwen was a practitioner of Yoga for 20 years. Gwen and John would walk to the center of the little Ortega bridge every day with our dog Barney. The garbage truck driver would honk his horn at her. A memorial will be held at Gwen's home on Saturday July 16 2022 at 3 pm. The house has many watercolor paintings that Gwen did for us and neighbors. John has many photographs of Gwen taken since 1967.