Peacefully, on May 15, 2019, at Grace Hospital. Surviving her to mourn her passing are her four children, Richard (Patt), David (Judy), Tom (Janet), and Patryce; grandchildren Scott (Karen), Janie (Dirk) and Colleen (Cyriel); great-grandchildren Marshall, Ashley, Dane, Clare, Ayden and Nikolas; and her beloved nieces. She was predeceased by husband Elmer, sisters Charlotte and Kathleen, and great-grandson Cole.
Born Anna Pritchard Cooper on September 13, 1920, Anna attended Earl Grey School and Kelvin High School before marrying Elmer in 1940. She devoted the following decade to raising her four children, subsequently working at different jobs to help support the family. After Elmer’s sudden passing in 1969, she embarked on a successful office career with the Provincial Government (MACC), from which she retired in 1985.
Anna’s parents, Charles and Agnes Cooper, immigrated to Canada from Scotland early in the last century, and Anna was immensely proud of her Scottish heritage. When younger, she looked forward to preparing Robbie Burns Day dinner every year. About 25 years ago, while they were still able to travel, she and her sister Charlotte toured Scotland together and enjoyed meeting their distant relatives on their mother’s side.
Anna was a very kind, considerate, and generous person loved by all who knew her. She possessed a strong passion for social justice and democracy, a political inclination molded by the union activities of her father and grandfather, her experiences growing up as a teenager in the Great Depression, and the sense of charity she inherited from her mother, who was always willing to give a helping hand to hungry drifters riding the rails during those bleak years. Her third son was named after her political hero, Tommy Douglas, whom she vividly recalled meeting at Child’s Restaurant in the early 1940s. By coincidence, she passed away just weeks before the 100th anniversary of the Winnipeg General Strike, an event that held great significance for her. She felt pride in owing her middle name to one of the strike leaders, Bill Pritchard.
Anna was a proud Manitoban, always an avid booster of her home province. After Elmer’s passing, she lived happily on her own in her Wilmot Park Plaza apartment until moving to the Waverley Retirement Residence in 2011. She spent her last two years at the Tuxedo Personal Care Home. Her family thanks the staff and friends at these institutions for all their camaraderie, care, and compassion through the years.
Flowers respectfully declined. No formal funeral is planned, but a celebration of life will take place sometime in the next few months, date still undecided. Those wishing to make a donation in Anna’s name may contribute to her favourite charity, the Salvation Army, P.O. Box 1932, Winnipeg MB R3C 3R2.
