Donald "Don" J. Cooper

Donald J. (Don) Cooper peacefully passed away on the morning of September 8, 2026, at the age of 94. He was staying at Anita’s Gardens in Grafton, WI. He was born on April 6, 1932, in Fond Du Lac, WI. to his late parents Gilbert and Marjorie (nee Gendron) Cooper. We believe he just couldn’t live any longer without his beloved wife Marion who passed away in February. They were married 74 years at the time of her death.

Don grew up in Chilton, WI. and went through a good portion of the Great Depression. Times were tough, but his dad worked for a dairy, so they always had milk, butter and cheese available. From an earlier age Don had a competitive spirit. He lettered in many sports from his junior year on. Football (played with leather helmets), basketball, track, boxing and baseball. Don had some great, young coaches at Chilton, one being Otto Breitenbach who eventually became the Athletic Director for the University of WI-Madison from 1973 to 1988. In his early twenties Don still played on “city teams” and traveled, but also started coaching local girl & boys basketball teams. He loved to coach and considered getting a degree in teaching and was recruited by Lakeland College, but things changed when he met Marion and they eventually got married.

In 1958 he, Marion, and 2 of 3 kids moved to Grafton, WI to take a new job with Tecumseh Products Co. in their newly created service division. Don worked there for 44 years and retired as their parts warehouse manager. A job he held for over 30 years. As the kids grew up, Don wanted us to get involved in sports and if there wasn’t something available to do (before high school), he would help to start it. Hence the birth of the Mid-Ozaukee Softball League for boys. Co-founded by he and Mr. Robert Knetter (another great man) the League grew to approximately 10 teams and were sponsored by Est Co., Schmitt Reality, Pat & Joe’s, Decay Fighters (dentist office), Ataco Steel, Morgan’s Jewelers, Busch Industries, Fred’s Clark Station, Ray’s pallets and the Woolen Mills. This gave many boys from 8-12 years old their first experience to play in an organized sport with weekly practices and games with new jerseys & hats. To start, the games were played at St. Joes and St. Paul’s fields, but the league grew larger and they ran out of space. Don contacted Mr. John Bliese and discussed the need for more baseball fields and two were built on the west side of John Long Middle School. These are still in use today. The yearly championship game was played at St. Joe’s field and broadcasted on WGLB radio.

As the kids got older, Don got into refereeing grade school & high school, girls and boys basketball games in Ozaukee & Washington counties. After 10-12 years of this, the legs started to wear out a bit, so Don moved on to horses & horse shows. Training, showing and taking care of his Appaloosa horses was truly one of the loves of his life. He rode in competitive shows until he was 78 years old and even took one of his horses to the World Show in Dallas, TX, where they placed 5th in a given class. Also, Don & Marion were charter members of Pilgrim United Church of Christ in Grafton, WI. and Don held a number of Church positions while there.

Don (and Marion) had a strong faith life, and he instilled that in his children as we grew up. Rarely did he miss a Sunday service in his lifetime. Don is survived by his two sons Robert (Dena) Cooper and Richard (Jill) Cooper, (10) grandchildren, (13) great-grandchildren, and other family members and friends. A memorial service for Don will take place at 12:00pm on Saturday, October 24, 2026, at Mueller Funeral Home in Grafton. Visitation will be held at the funeral home from 10:00am to 11:45am.