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Devotion to Mary inspired Trinity Heights By KATIE LEFEBVRE, Globe staff reporter
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| Father Harold Cooper dies in Sioux City at 83
Father Harold V. Cooper, 83, died Sept. 1 at Holy Spirit Retirement Home in Sioux City. Funeral services were held Sept. 5 at Blessed Sacrament Church in Sioux City with Bishop R. Walker Nickless officiating along with other priests of the Diocese of Sioux City. Burial was in Calvary Cemetery. Father Cooper was born June 8, 1924, in Sioux City, the son of Victor and Malinda (Karhoff) Cooper. He attended Immaculate Conception Grade School, Trinity High School and College and St. Paul Seminary in St. Paul, Minn. He as ordained to the priesthood June 7, 1949, at Cathedral of the Epiphany in Sioux City by Bishop Joseph M. Mueller. He was first assigned to St. Ann Parish in Vail. He also served at St. Cecelia's in Algona, Immaculate Conception in Moville, St. Mary's in Larchwood, Annunciation in Coon Rapids, St. Joseph's in Sioux City and St. Joseph in Jefferson. He was a member of the priest senate and was involved in Cursillo and helped organize the Catholic Social Club. He retired in December 1990. He is survived by two brothers and their wives, Bernard and Ruby Cooper of Sioux City and Dr. Jerry and Ilene Cooper of Ashland, Ore.; and many nieces and nephews. He was preceded in death by his parents; and a baby sister, Mary Ann. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to Queen of Peace, Inc., PO Box 1707, Sioux City, IA 51102. |
Mary in Santa Clara, Calif. He
was very devoted to Mary. He went down there and saw it. From that day on, he
was not going to quit until he got one here."
Father Cooper kept going after it. Trinity Heights became a reality in 1987 when the property was purchased. In 1990 Dale Lamphere, a sculptor, was commissioned to design and build the statue of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, Queen of Peace, which was placed in 1992.
"Without his dream and his hard work to get it done, it wouldn't have happened," said Cooper. "We considered him the founder. He certainly was and is."
Trinity Heights, 33rd Street and Floyd Boulevard, a nationally known shrine, draws more than 100,000 visitors a year.
"We get hundreds of the letters from people, who have been here, saying how moved they have been, how much the place means to them and how much closer to God they have felt since they have been here. I think the intent has been fulfilled," said Cooper.
Lou Roach along with her husband, Dr. Ken Roach, parishioners at Blessed Sacrament in Sioux City, were friends with Father Cooper long before his days at Trinity Heights. Dr. Roach was Father Cooper's veterinarian.
"We got to know Father Cooper more as he started developing the idea of Trinity Heights," said Roach. "We supported his efforts there. Father was really a visionary."
She said that the elements that are now part of Trinity Heights were part of Father Cooper's vision - statue of Mary, statue of Christ, avenue of saints and the grottos.
"We could tell Father Cooper was directed from above," said Roach. "He was always inspirational in his faith. He was a down to earth person. I don't think he ever gave up on anybody. It didn't matter who they were, Father Cooper would always welcome them into his house. He was an example for everybody."
Marge Stanek, a parishioner at Nativity in Sioux City, saw Father Cooper as a spiritual leader in the Diocese of Sioux City. She knew him before she became involved as a volunteer at Queen of Peace.
"I knew him as leading the way to recognize the moral evils like abortion and pornography," she said. "He led the way on so many of those activities in this diocese."
She said Father Cooper helped her realize that "prayer leads to action."
"He impacted me to know we have to do more than just say we are pro-life. We actually have to work on ways to change things," said Stanek. "He led me to have a deeper devotion to the rosary."
Along with more recent remembrances of Father Cooper, his brother recalled earlier memories of childhood.
"In grade school days, we'd play church and he would always get to be he priest and I had be his altar boy," said Cooper. "He never let that switch around."
During summers Harold and Beanie would visit their uncle, Msgr. Henry Karhoff, a diocesan priest, for a month during the summer. Cooper attributes this to contributing to his brother's vocation.
Cooper remembered that after Father Cooper became a priest their family would spend holidays - Thanksgiving, Christmas - with him at the parish he was serving at the time.
Not only was Father Cooper the founder of Trinity Heights, but he also served as a diocesan priest for more than 40 years at parishes including Immaculate Conception in Moville, St. Ann in Vail and St. Joseph in Sioux City.
