RIP John "Coop" Cooper

[rblackburn]

Coop passed away yesterday.

[victorzamora]

Wow, I'm really sorry to hear that.

[Sludge]

I've known two cave divers by that name. I'm guessing this is the guy that dived out of Berry Scuba/Scuba John's?

[rblackburn]

I've known two cave divers by that name. I'm guessing this is the guy that dived out of Berry Scuba/Scuba John's?

Correct.

[Kelly Jessop]

Sorry to hear that

[Jack Hammer]

Sorry to hear. Condolences to friends and family.

[DeadHeadDiver]

Aw man, that's a shame. He'll be missed.

[tbone1004]

only met him once, but was hoping I'd meet up with him again. RIP Coop

[JamesK]

Coop was a great guy. An amazing guy actually. Never thought of himself and just wanted to share his passion with anyone who would listen. We stayed in touch when I left Atalanta, but before that we spent a lot of time not only diving, but talking about diving and anything else. I will miss him greatly.

[Sludge]

I took Intro through Full together with Coop. But after getting Full I pretty much dived with the south Georgia/northwest Florida contingent, and didn't see much of him any more. I was hoping some of his Atlanta buddies would post a few anecdotes, but since they haven't...

The first thing that comes to mind when I think of John Cooper is the nickname I had for him - John Cooper Mellencamp. You had to know him to think that that was funny. Coop was a thin, quiet, very reserved black man. I'm sorry but I just laughed out loud for the third time this paragraph. But Coop was the exact opposite of a rock star in EVERY way.

Coop was a good diver, a safe diver, but he sucked air like a vacuum cleaner. During training and other dives he ALWAYS hit thirds first. So I remember well the time I saw him walking back to the car from Peacock 1 with his new doubles - a set of Pressed Steel LP-120s. I remember yelling across the parking lot, "My gosh, Coop, are those T-bottles?" We laughed about that afterward every time we saw each other.

Come on, I'm sure more of you have some memories you can post here. (And when my time comes I hope everyone on the forum posts a story about me.)