Louise "Babette" Cooper's Obituary
Babette Cooper June 26, 1942 – Feb. 10, 2015 In MemoryBabette “Babs” Chittom Cooper, 72, passed peacefully from the confines of this planet into the arms of her heavenly family Feb. 10, at The Highlands of Memphis after a long illness. She was a wife, mother, sister, grandmother, friend, actress, singer, teacher, painter, musician, traveler, tennis player and lover of all things fun. Babs was born June 26, 1942 in Little Rock, AR., the first child of Louise and Brooks Chittom. She lived her early years in Toccopola, MS and later Water Valley, MS, where she was active in all manner of school and civic activities, including the Beta Club, choir and cheerleading. She will be welcomed home by a host of family and friends, including her husband James Cooper, her parents and a brother, Lafe Chittom who preceded her in death. Babs embraced life seeking fun and friendships wherever she went. She began singing from an early age participating in talent shows and choral events starting in junior high through college at the University of Mississippi, where she majored in speech/theater and performed in numerous musical productions. She was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, president of the national honorary music fraternity Sigma Alpha Iota and member of the University Singers. A participant in beauty pageants starting in high school, she was Miss Ole Miss runner-up. She would go on to sing with Leon Kelner and His Orchestra at the Broadwater Hotel in Biloxi, MS., under the stage name B. B. Brooks and acted in theaters in St. Louis, Mo., Manteo, N.C., and along the Mississippi Gulf Coast with former husbands Bob Macek and Richard Sheffield. She later taught music in public school systems in Biloxi, Oxford and Shelby County. In the late 1970s she co-founded the cover band Moonstone and for the next 20 years performed popular pop, rock and country throughout the Mid-South in country clubs and nightclubs, festivals and special corporate events. She and her husband Jim spent the last 10 years of their 22-year marriage living primarily in the Seaside/Santa Rosa area of the Florida Panhandle playing tennis, walks on the beach, music, dancing and spending time with innumerable friends. She spent her last years in Memphis with old and new friends, her children and grandchildren enjoying what she could as Alzheimer’s disease gradually took her from us. She leaves a son, Chris Sheffield (Suzanne) of Memphis, daughter Jennifer Vines of Scottsboro, Al, step-daughter Candace Lockhart (Charlie), step-son Sloan Cooper (Jennifer), a sister Daneise Burnette (David) of Germantown, brother Brooks Chittom (Faye) of Jackson, MS, grandsons Tyler Sheffield (Tupelo, MS) and Carson Vines (Scottsboro). The family would like to extend a special “Thank you” to all of those caregivers – professionals, friends and family – who gave so generously of their time to visit and care for Babs during her long illness. She was a wonderful spark of life that was taken from us far too soon. In lieu of flower, the family asks that memorials be made to the Alzheimer’s Association chapter in your area. A special Celebration of Life party to honor Babette will be held Saturday, April 11 from 6 – 9 p.m. at The 5 Spot, located behind Ernestine & Hazel’s, 531 S. Main, Memphis, 38103. Memorial Park Funeral Home & Cemetery is handling arrangements.XXX
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