Anna Mae Cooper, 99, died at Hester Care Center of Wesley Towers on June 16, 2011.

She was born November 3, 1911, in Canyon, Texas, to Loucille Coffee Vetesk and Jim Vetesk.

She grew up in Canyon, graduating from high school there in 1930. She attended West Texas State Teachers College (now West Texas University), where she graduated in 1934 with a degree in education. She taught 1st grade in Borger, Texas. She began teaching at the end of the first semester of her senior year. She had 50 1st graders.

She met Arch Cooper in Borger and they were married on Dec. 7, 1935, in Muskogee, Oklahoma. He died October 10, 1990.

Arch worked for Phillips Petroleum Company for 40 years. They retired to Cheney, Kansas, in 1965, into a 100-year old house which they remodeled, doing all the work themselves. It became known as the Cooper House. Anna Mae moved to Wesley Towers retirement home in November, 2001. She was a homemaker.

She was a member of Cheney United Methodist Church while in Cheney and joined Trinity United Methodist Church after moving to Hutchinson. A woman of deep faith, she was active in her church in Cheney and as a member of the Together Sunday School Class at Trinity. She was an avid flower gardener and seamstress. She liked to crochet and made many afghans for her children, grandchildren and others. She loved to travel and after Arch retired, they took many trips. They spent several winters in Indio, California, where they purchased a trailer home.

She was preceded in death by her husband, a son, Gene, in 1998, her parents, a brother, Glenn Vetesk, and a sister, Leona Baird.

She is survived by: her daughters, Barbara and husband John Summervill, Hutchinson, Pamela and husband Doug Liebl, Zenda; grandchildren, Rodney Summervill, Hutchinson, Jill Goertzen and husband Russ, Buhler, Robin Krehbiel and husband Stacey, Hutchinson, Kristin Wegerer and husband Kevin, Cunningham, Kelli Reno and husband Greg, Cheney. She also has 11 great-grandchildren: Jacob, Joshua, Justin and Jesse Goertzen, Wyatt and Claire Krehbiel, Madalene, Isabelle, Max and Will Wegerer, and Sam, Mollie, and Luke Reno. She is also survived by her little therapy dog, Sweet Pea.

The funeral service will be 2:00 p.m. Monday, June 20, 2011, at Trinity United Methodist Church, Hutchinson, with the Reverend Jim Rhaesa officiating. Burial will be at 4:30 p.m. at the Resthaven Cemetery, Wichita. Friends may call Saturday from 5 to 9 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson. The family will receive friends Sunday from 6 to 8 p.m. Sunday evening at Elliott's.

Memorials may be sent to Trinity United Methodist Church, Hospice of Reno County, or the Wesley Towers Good Samaritan Fund, all in care of the mortuary.

Visit www.elliottmortuary.com to leave condolences for her family.