A Celebration of Life and the inurnment of Mary Virginia (Cooper) Engstrom will be held at St. Thomas’ Episcopal Church at 1 p.m. on Tuesday, February 26, 2019. Inurnment will follow at the family plot in the Rawlins Cemetery.
Mary was born in Rawlins on May 8, 1927, to Brady M. and Blanche (Lippert) Cooper. She was educated in Rawlins schools, graduating from Rawlins High in 1945. She attended Union College in Jackson, Tennessee, where she was active in Zeta Tau Alpha and as a cheerleader. Returning to Rawlins she served as Carbon County Deputy Clerk Court.
She married Louis W. Engstrom on May 10, 1948. To that union were born three children, Marilyn, Kim and Joan.
Mary continued working part-time for the Clerk of Court and the County Clerk until 1969 when she began work with the Carbon County School District, serving as library assistant, school secretary and in the central office as secretary for the curriculum coordinator. She retired in 1987.
She was active in St. Thomas’ Church, serving as the first female Senior Warden, as Sunday School teacher and for many years as the coordinator of the Bereavement Committee. She had been a member of Daughter’s of the Nile, Order of the Eastern Star, PEO, and Sinclair Ladies Golf Association. She served as a 4-H leader and as an officer with the Wyoming Senior Women’s Golf Association. Some of her favorite times were her early morning bicycle rides with the BAWAAs and later with their sewing club. She enjoyed gardening, golf, skiing, sewing, knitting, cooking and line dancing.
Since 2011 she has made her home in Laramie with her daughter Marilyn, and at the Laramie Care Center until she entered Hospice of Laramie where she died on February 16, 2019.
Mary was preceded in death by her parents; husband of 63 years, Louis; and son, Kim; her sister, Ruth Beller and brother, Charles Cooper. She is survived by her daughters, Marilyn Engstrom, Laramie; Joanie (Bob) Martino, Laramie; three grandsons, John (Lisa) Engstrom, Rawlins; Drew (Michelle) Engstrom, Midland, Texas; and Matthew Martino, Fort Lewis, Washington; three granddaughters, Misty (Chris) Dibble, Casper; Anna-Lisa Martino, Fargo, North Dakota; and Alexandra Martino, Laramie; and seven great grandchildren, Jena (Jeremy) Harris, Hannah Mika, Madeleine Mika, Emma Engstrom, Megan Engstrom, Haley Dibble and Brady Dibble; and three great great grandchildren, five nieces and two nephews.
Memorial donations may be made to Cathedral Home for Children, 4989 N. Third St. Laramie, Wyoming, 82070, or Hospice of Laramie, 1754 Centennial Dr., Laramie, Wyoming, 82070.
