1947-2023

Anna Cooper Strong

A Celebration of Anna Cooper Strong will be held at 1:30 p.m. Saturday, March 4 at the First Unitarian Church of San Jose, and simulcast on Zoom at https://zoom.us/j/92337624889. 

In lieu of flowers, Anna’s family requests that you go for a ride/walk, to enjoy the beauty that fills each day.

Anna Lorraine Cooper Strong passed Saturday, January 14, 2023, at age 66 of pancreatic cancer.

Mother and father Will and Margo Cooper arrived in Idyllwild in 1967, with children Anna, Tom, Laura, Peter and Sara. Anna attended Idyllwild Elementary, the Shoal School, and graduated from Desert Sun School in 1974. She is survived by her mother; the families of all four siblings; her children Joseph, Emma and Eleanor; and by their father, Robert Strong.

As the oldest sibling, Anna was a natural ringleader and merrymaker. Throughout her life, Anna led friends and siblings into adventures and mischief in the wilderness, always shepherding the group safely, sometimes at the exciting edge of risk. She loved hiking, backpacking, bookclubs, opera, her “Biker Babes,” tai chi, dancing and her family.

For many, Anna came to epitomize the practice of finding peacefulness and joy amidst the inevitable suffering that arises in life. Her final weeks were blessed with this wisdom and gladdened by time playing with her grandchild Wesley.

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