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Family, friends gather to remember former Edmonton woman found slain in U.S. |
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Written by Jordan Jackle, THE CANADIAN PRESS
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Wednesday, 23 July 2008 |
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EDMONTON - Katie and Bella Cooper wandered in front of about 350 mourners at their mother's memorial Wednesday with youthful fascination, seemingly unaware of the grave situation that beckoned their attendance.
Jeff Rentz would later say that for Katie, who turned two on Wednesday, the situation surrounding the death of his sister and her mother is a little over her head. Four-year-old Bella, however, seems to be gradually piecing things together.
People attending the service at Edmonton's Grace Lutheran Church focused on the boundless energy of Nancy Cooper's daughters - an energy she is also said to have had.
"She was everybody's rock. She was everybody's light. And she really was everybody's best friend," Anna McRoberts said of Cooper, who was found slain in North Carolina on July 14.
"Five other people that I know also thought they were Nancy's best friend. She made us all feel so unbelievably special."
Cooper's body was discovered near a construction site by a man walking his dog only kilometres away from her family home in Cary, N.C. She was reported missing two days earlier when she didn't show up at a friend's house as planned.
Cooper, 34, was last seen by her husband Bradley Cooper before the avid runner left for her early morning jog. A massive search ensued, staffed by volunteers from a community in which she had thrived.
"She took me under her wing," wrote Jessica Adams, who met Cooper when their daughters started the same playschool, in a letter read aloud to the congregation.
She said that for Cooper, everything was a celebration.
"It didn't matter if the sky was grey, she had a smile on her face," Adams wrote.
When Cooper's family first arrived at the church in a long, black limousine, one of her daughters raced to greet a family member milling outside. Both Bella and Katie were clutching white roses - their mother's favourite flower.
Her disappearance inspired a media frenzy in both Canada and the United States. Cooper grew up in an Edmonton neighbourhood where her parents, Garry and Donna Cooper, and her sister Jill Dean still live.
Cooper's parents, along with her twin sister, Khrista Lister, have been awarded temporary custody of her children after telling a judge that Bradley Cooper was emotionally unstable.
In court documents filed by his lawyers, he acknowledged tensions in the marriage and said he had an extramarital affair, but also accused his late wife of an indiscretion with another man.
"Nancy admitted that she also had an extramarital relationship while married to me, four years ago before Bella was born," Bradley Cooper said in an affidavit.
"Nancy insisted that she did nothing wrong, that her relationship with the other man only happened once, it wasn't sexual, and that no one even knew his name."
He also alleged in the affidavit that Cooper's spending habits had resulted in a $45,000 credit card debt.
Nancy had lived with her husband in Cary for eight years. Bradley Cooper, who was not at Wednesday's memorial, has also said through his lawyer that he will co-operate with police to help bring her killer to justice.
In his address to the group of mourners, Pastor Larry MacKay said they really shouldn't be there in the first place, and that the reason for such a gathering should never have happened.
"In a perfect world, a parent should never have to grieve for their children, especially not under such horrible circumstances."
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Last Updated ( Sunday, 07 September 2008 )
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