8 Aug 2024 - Lunch with Cousin Gary Cooper and Dee

 

Today we had lunch with and reconnected with one of my first cousins that I have not seen since approximately 1977.  Gary Cooper  is the son of my mom's late sister Erma and her husband Virgil.  When I was growing up they lived in New London Iowa.  My grandparent on my mother's side Clark and Mary Ann Linch lived just west of there in Mount Pleasant Iowa, the same town that I was born.  My father's State Trooper career took us all over the State of Iowa, but once or twice a year we would visit the grandparents in Mount Pleasant.  That is when I would usually see cousin Gary.

Gary is about seven years older than me, and most young men from that era ended up either being drafted or enlisting in the military. Gary served in the United States Navy from 1968 to 1974 as a submariner.  I, myself, enlisted in 1972 at 17 years old which was about as early as I was allowed.  That was toward the tail end of Vietnam and you have heard the rest of that story.  In 1977 Doreen and I, and our beautiful little daughter Michelle returned to Iowa where I was hired by the Iowa Department of Public Safety Communications Division maintaining radio and electronics equipment for the Iowa State Patrol. I also enlisted in the Iowa Air National Guard which would continue my military career.  I recollect Gary stopping to see us in 1977 when we lived in Des Moines, before we bought our house in Norwalk.  After that we kind of lost touch, until recently.

So as we planned this trip and every trip we take we look into what there is to see and also who there is to see.  Friends, relatives and military comrades primarily.  I have been in touch with Gary's brother Virgil (Dean) for quite a few years, in fact he and his wife attended my military retirement at Camp Dodge in 2015.  

Our Adjutant General MG Tim Orr, Doreen and me during my military retirement

Virgil (Dean) Cooper (Gary's brother) and Virgil's wife Donna at Camp Dodge

This past spring, through the process of searching the Internet I was able to reconnect with Gary. We made it known we would be in his general vicinity about this time of the year during our trip, and we made plans to have lunch at the Cracker Barrel restaurant in Athens TN, part way between his house in Sweetwater TN and where we were camping in Chattanooga.   

The trip to Athens was uneventful but we saw convoys to electrical power trucks likely headed to the SE coast in support of the damage made by Hurricane, now tropical storm Debby.  

We've both obviously both changed over the years, but were easily recognized in the parking lot of the local Cracker Barrel restaurant where we met.  We had a good lunch and some great conversations as we caught up on what us and our families had been up to. Gary has returned to Iowa a few times as his parents and our grandparents are buried in Mount Pleasant.  We had the staff at Cracker Barrel take a picture of us before we departed.  

Back at the campground, Doreen did a few loads of laundry and I dumped/flushed tanks and stowed hoses in preparation for our departure tomorrow.  

Doreen and I also spent some time planning out the trip to our next campground, which is Arnold Air Force Base near Tullahoma TN.  The trip tomorrow is a short one, only about 98 miles, but no one is in our site tonight there, so early arrivals are no problem.  

We will be there four nights and have made reservations for tours at the Jack Daniels Distillery, George Dickel Distillery, the Southern Pride Distillery, and the Beechcraft (aircraft)  Heritage Museum.  There is also a  Short Springs Natural Area hike that will take us to a couple waterfalls.