Mr. John Elette Cooper, 99, passed away Thurs-day, June 26, 2014, after a short illness. Visitation will be held from 5-8 p.m. on Sunday June 29, at Poole-Ritchie Funeral Home. Funeral services will begin at 10 a.m. on Monday June 30, at E.S.M. Meth-odist Church. Officiating will be the Rev. Tom Dolph, former pastor of E.S.M. Methodist Church, and the Rev. Bill Moon, pastor of E.S.M. Methodist Church. Interment will follow at Pierce Family Cemetery with flag presentation performed by the American Legion Post 24.

Mr. Cooper was a native of Bogalusa and a resident of Bogalusa for almost 100 years. Mr. Cooper was Citizen of the Year in 1992 and has been selected as Citizen of the Century for the Bogalusa Cen-tennial. He also had the distinction of being the oldest active member of the Louisiana American Legion. He was a member of E.S.M. Methodist Church. He served in the U.S. Seabees during World War II.

He was preceded in death by his wife of 65 years, Nell Jackson Cooper. Mr. Cooper is survived by his daughter, Diane Austin; two grandchildren and their spouses, Trent and Jennifer Austin and Alayna and John Kahre; and three great-grandchildren, Emily Cooper Kahre, Cooper Austin and John Jackson Kahre.

The family would like to express their sincere appreciation to the staff of Rest-haven Living Center, which he considered home and loved the staff as much as they loved him, and Cannon Hospice of Northshore.

In Lieu of flowers, please make donations to E.S.M. Methodist Church or Resthaven Living Center in his memory.