William Burton Cooper

William Burton Cooper was born of Southern parents in Memphis, Tennessee on October 6, 1934. His mother remarried a Yankee in Southern Missouri; their family grew to include his brother and three sisters, and they settled in Belleville, Illinois, where he graduated from high school.

A compassionate and insightful man, Will Cooper was a born storyteller who had a joke for any occasion and a kind word for everyone. He had a gift for inspiring people and helping them understand each other and prepare for their own journeys, finding joy and meaning along the way.

He graduated from a small Christian college in central Illinois, then known as Lincoln Bible Institute (and later as Lincoln Christian University), with a B.A. in New Testament. By the early 1960s, he was married with three children and ministering to churches in Kentucky, Illinois, and Indiana. He eventually moved West to work as a pastor in Los Angeles, but he resigned after a conflict with church officers over his support for those acting to bring about racial justice.

After continuing his ministry to young adults at First Christian Church of Long Beach, he moved to Phoenix to attend Arizona State University and became a pastor at First Christian Church of Phoenix. At ASU, he completed a B.A. degree in Sociology and an M.A. in

Criminal Justice. He worked for the Arizona Department of Corrections for six years and moved back to Southern California when he was offered a full-time position at Cypress College, where he taught sociology for 20 years and created the Human Services department.

He shared with his students the wisdom he had gained from his experiences working in different careers in cities and towns across the country. He created courses based on the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the experiences of those who had been a part of it, many of whom he met and interviewed, so that future generations would understand our struggles as a nation and not repeat the mistakes of the past.

Along the way, Will took time to pursue dreams and opportunities, such as becoming a pilot, flying a Cessna 182, and making several exciting trips in California and Mexico. In Phoenix, he met the love of his life, Susun, who became his wife and companion on many journeys, including a trip to Ireland with family to seek out genealogical and spiritual roots. Together they discovered a serene, rocky ridge north of Mt. Shasta at the far northern edge of California, where they built a house in the 1980s that later became their home and a gathering place for family and friends until they moved back to Phoenix in 2011.

In 2023, Will published a book tracing his personal and scholarly journeys along the Southern pathways of the Civil Rights movement, Until Justice Rolls Down Like Waters, to which Susun contributed as a research partner, editor, and photographer. She passed away in 2020 and did not see the completion of the project. Will cherished the memories of nearly 50 years they had shared, and each day he remembered her with love and gratitude.

A friend of Will’s wrote that he was one of “a gifted few who, wherever they are, create a home for others around themselves.” He leaves behind a life well lived, countless friends and students whose curiosity he sparked and whose careers he helped launch, and sisters, cousins, children, and grandchildren who love him and miss him very much.

If you would like to make a gift in honor of Will’s life, his children suggest that you give to a local food pantry helping to feed people in need.