LEWISTON – Donald Mackay “Rusty” Cooper, 80, of Old Sumner Road Buckfield, died at Central Maine Medical Center in Lewiston on Friday, April 9.

He was born in Buckfield on May 15, 1923 the son of Ralph Albert and Gladys Elizabeth (Mackay) Cooper. He was educated in local schools and served in the U.S. Army Air Force from 1942 to 1945 as a crew chief of a DOUGLAS A20 Havoc in the 312th Bomb Group. He married Ruth Hersey of St. Albans, Vt. on Sept. 6, 1948. During the Fifties he lived and worked in Norway, moving to Connecticut in 1962 where he worked as a farm manager at Hilltop Orchards in Branford, Conn. He moved back to Buckfield in 1976 after becoming disabled.

He was a member and past commander of John D. Long Post #58 American Legion and a charter member of the VFW Post 5986 of Canton as well as a member of the Buckfield Historical Society. He was an avid baseball fan, especially the Red Sox, and had played in several leagues in his younger days. He was an avid bird watcher, loved the outdoors and especially enjoyed his gardens.

He was very interested in his children and their activities. He enjoyed listening to his daughter, Tina, play harp and was instrumental in her musical career; he loved talking with his son Timothy about the Air Force and traveling, attending Bomb Group Reunions and genealogy and he was always happy to go hunting and fishing and talking sports with son, Don and was always a friend to Don’s motorcycle friends. He will be sadly missed by family and friends who knew him.

Although he loved to travel the scenic countryside of the United States and Maine, he always called his home his paradise.

He is survived by his wife of 55 years of Buckfield; two sons, Timothy George Cooper (TSgt USAF ret.) and Donald Cooper Jr. and his wife, Linda all of Buckfield; one daughter, Christina “Tina” Ruth Cooper Tourin and friend, Betty Truitt of Mt. Laguna, Calif.; a brother, Fred Cooper Sr. of Buckfield; a sister, Alice Chamberlain and husband, Delano of Buckfield; seven grandchildren, Tracy Lynn Cooper of Buckfield, Benjamin Allen Cooper of Westbrook, Jaime Cooper Tourin of England, Krista Jeanine Cooper of Buckfield, Elizabeth Farnham Cooper of Guilford, Mischa Peter Tourin of San Diego, Calif. and Rebekah Story Cooper of Buckfield and a great-grandson, Aiden Timothy Cooper of Westbrook.

He was predeceased by two brothers, Winston Cooper and Earle Cooper and a sister, Mary Kimball.


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