Newton County GaArchives Obituaries.....Cooley, Col. James P. November 2, 1907 ************************************************ Copyright. All rights reserved. http://www.usgwarchives.net/copyright.htm http://www.usgwarchives.net/ga/gafiles.htm ************************************************ File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by: Phyllis Thompson http://www.genrecords.net/emailregistry/vols/00011.html#0002524 June 5, 2006, 7:27 pm The Enterprise, November 8, 15, 22, 29, 1907 The Enterprise, November 8, 1907 FAIRVIEW Fairview comes with expressions of sorrow this week on account of the death of our worthy and noble Editor, Col. James P. Cooley. We had hoped from the news received of his improvement that he would soon be restored to good health and usefulness. Truly, “In the midst of life we are in death.” We had predicted great things for Col. Cooley he always got whatever he asked the people for. We know his place will be hard to fill. All honor to South Carolina for the gift of this noble son. We pray God’s Blessings upon the bereaved ones especially the dear Mother. * The Enterprise, November 8, 1907 The death of Col. J. P. Cooley is the occasion of unmeasured regret to us, says the Walton News. We met Bro. Cooley once, while on a visit to Mr. S. H. Adams in this city, and we found him to be one of those big-hearted fellows such as one always delights to meet. He was a very handsome man, large, robust and healthy. That he should be cut down so soon after having entered upon a prominent public career is all the sadder. He was young, and as promising as one could wish. Here’s to his memory forever! * The Enterprise, November 8, 1907 COL. JAMES P. COOLEY ANSWERS THE MASTER’S CALL. Col. Jas. P. Cooley, Solicitor of the City Court of Covington and editor of the Enterprise, passed away last Saturday afternoon at ?:25 o’clock, after a six weeks illness with typhoid fever, and on Sunday afternoon at 8 o’clock more than 1,200 people, probably the largest crowd ever at a funeral in Newton County, gathered at Salem Campground cemetery, six miles west of Covington, to pay a last loving tribute to Newton’s noblest son and to a perfect Christian gentleman in every sense of the term. The funeral services were conducted by Revs R. C. Cleckler and E. R. Pendleton, of this city, and S. H. Dimon, and they were most impressive indeed. Mr. Cooley was a steward in the Covington Methodist Church, of which Rev. Mr. Cleckler is the pastor, and always took a prominent part in church and Sunday School work. The Odd Fellows formed an honorary escort for the remains from the home to Salem and after the church services, this order and the Masons and concluded the services at the grave, the body being laid to rest beside the remains of his departed wife and infant son. When Mr. Cooley left the city on the morning of September 24, little did we think that his smiling face and stately figure would not again be seen on the streets of Covington. Constant overwork compelled him to take a rest, and to procure this rest he went to the home of his loving mother in Rocky Plains district. But all the tender cares of the noble Christian mother, of faithful physicians and nurses who were almost constantly at his bedside, could not stay the hand of death, and the scythe of time cut down the life of a man whose future could not have been brighter with promise and assurance and gathered in the soul to the home of the Master, placing on his head, no doubt, a crown woven with diadems symbolical of the beautiful life he had lived among his fellow men in the past. Mr. Cooley was born in Newberry, S. C., on December 29, 1879. At the age of five James was left fatherless, and the responsibilities and duties of the farm fell upon the widowed mother and five small children. “Little Jimmy” was a familiar name in almost every Newberry County farmhouse, and that he always did his share of work in earning a living for the family is vouchsafed by the inhabitants of that county twenty odd years ago. At the age of seven he plowed and drove a team as well as would a person many years older. From Newberry the family moved to Cherokee Springs and “little Jimmy” engaged in farming and hauling cord wood. His loving mother taught him the alphabet and thus gave him the first lessons in reading. He learned to read rapidly and constant study at night and the reading of newspapers caused him to soon be recognized as one of the best informed boys in his section. Much of his knowledge of the Bible (and he certainly knew the good book well) was acquired during his early boyhood days. At the age of 17 young Cooley left the fireside of home and went out in the world to make his mark. For a while he worked as a day laborer, but he power of an education impressed itself upon his mind and soon he entered college at Leesville and remained there until graduation, teaching schools in the country during vacation. Mr. Cooley came to Newton County the latter part of February 1901, and for the next five years taught two of the finest schools in the county, Oakland three years and Livingston two years. He won the praises of the patrons of these respective schools and for years to come they’ll fondly remember Prof. Cooley. On December 29, 1908, Mr. Cooley married Miss Annie Woodruff, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. B. H. Woodruff, of Porterdale, and from this happy union one son was born. Mrs. Cooley died about a year later and a few months afterwards the little one passed away, and these dark clouds caused much sorrow in the life of the devoted husband. For several years prior to his admission to the bar, Mr. Cooley read law at odd times and when, on June 18, 1906, he went to Atlanta and stood the examination to Judge L. S. Roan’s court, his fine papers were highly complimented by many prominent members of the Atlanta bar. Col. Cooley then came to Covington and opened a law office. Success crowned his efforts from the beginning, phenomenally did his law practice grow. Last year Col. Cooley was elected Justice of the Peace of Covington district by a handsome majority. This position he filled most ably until a short time ago, when he resigned to accept the position of Solicitor of the new City Court of Covington, to which he was elected by a magnificent vote. But he never entered into his duties in the court room, the grim reaper calling him to a higher court before the first regular session of the city court convened this week. No man in Newton County ever won the esteem of the people more rapidly than did Col. Cooley, and the endorsement given him for Solicitor was evidence of this fact. Col. Cooley purchased and assumed control of the Enterprise on October 15, 1906, and expressions of approval of the words that flowed from his editorial pen have been many indeed. He placed the paper in the front rank with the best of Georgia weeklies. That it should maintain a high standard of excellence while he remained at the helm was his constant aim, and that the Enterprise did. Col. Cooley was a member of the Covington lodges of Masons, Odd Fellows, Knight of Pythias, Red Men and Royal Arcanum and in all these he took a prominent part. He was at the time of his death, Chancellor Commander of the Knights of Pythias. Col. Cooley is survived by his mother, three sisters and two brothers, the mother and two sisters in America and a sister and the brothers in the faraway Philippines. A man could not possibly be loved more by his employees than was Editor Cooley by “his boys” in the Enterprise office. Never did he enter the door when a smile did not play over his magnetic face, never did he speak to us except in tender words that always cheered us on. How could we refrain from being truly devoted to the stately gentleman who has left us now but whose memory will linger in our hearts till we, too, are called to dwell beneath the vernal shade of life’s immortal trees! * The Enterprise, November 8, 1907 TRIBUTE TO COLONEL COOLEY James P. Cooley, a knightly gentleman and pure-hearted patriot has ceased his pleasant labors among men. His death, which occurred November second at the residence of his mother, removed from the active affairs of Newton County a man whose influence for good was being felt by every phase of its life and progress. The readers of this paper do not need to have analyzed for them the character of Colonel Cooley, they all know him form having associated with him. My only purpose in this brief article is to pay a tender tribute of love to a young man who had been my friend and comrade for the past ten years, during which time there never was the semblance even of the slightest estrangement between us. I know of his personal purity; low thoughts could not find no entrance to his brain. He was so busy developing the good that there was no time for other things. His plans for usefulness were so large that his means for accomplishing them could not stand the pace. So he capitalized faith, always accompanied by prudence, and continued to carry on his work. Had he lived the entire State would soon have though as much of him as did the people of his county. I know of his ambitions; John C. Calhoun was his idol, and he had his heart set upon the same forum which was so signally honored by the South Carolina Statesman. His ideals were high and he had faith, unmixed with doubt, in his ultimate success. His dreams served him as guides, and while practical to an unusual extent, he nevertheless gave much of his time to study and planning. Few people of his age were as familiar with the accumulated thought of the ages. Colonel Cooley’s library will show the marks of use, and it is an usual library for one of moderate menus. Liberal minded he was tolerant of the opinion of others. Religiously, he believed that one’s salvation depended upon his own thinking and not upon another’s. His life had been and will continue an inspiration to many young men to utilize their energies for the up building of a wholesome public opinion by active participation in the affairs of government. It is difficult to form a proper estimate of such a man’s worth to a community. The loss falls heaviest upon his mother whom he worshipped. Considerate of her every need, he left nothing undone to add to her comfort and happiness. May God throw His mantle of love and protecting care around her and help her to bear with patience the double loss of husband and son. H. L. BRIDGES The Enterprise, November 15, 1907 A TRIBUTE TO JAMES P. COOLEY By Charles C. Elliott The Georgia Enterprise Will you allow me a few columns, perhaps a page in which to pay tribute to my very dear friend, Newton County’s splendid and adopted son? No one knows the great cloud of grief hovering over my spirit since that of my brother James P. Cooley has taken its flight to the “undiscovered country.” I knew him, and loved him because I could only love a genuine, generous, fraternal heart. But his splendid, young life has gone to spend elsewhere its unending years, its ever increasing energies; and its consecrated powers. I call him splendid because I believe he had few equals; I call him young because I believe he was not only young in years, but his every activity was characterized by that virility and buoyancy which crowned his every effort with success. He knew little ______, and accepted no defeat. I speak of his unending years because he had incorporated eternal _______. I speak of his consecrated powers because he knew no master but his Lord, and no dictator but his conscience. I am not ashamed to confess that he comes nearer to my ideal of a young man than any I have known. Perhaps in my grief I am partial and only his image can be seen sublime, supreme, during this sad hour; but I think not. His physical manhood was such that he could labor almost incessantly and yet with no evidence of nervous exhaustion or irritation. Nature had richly endowed him with the qualifications of an athletic training. He was by nature a physical man. He had an ample and secure foundation for the cultivation and operation of a giant mind, and for the varied and manifold activities of a great and noble heart. many a time, as he has gripped both my hands in one of his, I have assured him that I envied him his great physical strength. But he craved the intellectual and loved his books. He would have sold his coat to buy one. They were to his truly and wisely inquisitive mind, “unapproaching companions to the _________ “silent companions of the silent hours,” and _____ ______ rich in thought and character to owe nothing to books.” He thought with Thoreau, and often bade me, “read not the times, read the eternities”. With Leigh Hunt he believed that “mankind are the creatures of books,” and with Seneca he was assured that “it does not matter how many, but how good, books you have.” It was an inspiration to me and ever shall be. I can never under value these silent friends, since having known and loved James P. Cooley who loved so well his books. Had he lived he would have been truly learned and well read, things never acquired by any one in the few brief years he lived. He delighted to commune with master minds and loved the companionship of Plato and Socrates; Bacon and Spencer; Shakespeare and Milton; Scott and Dickens; and reveled in what he so often called the “interesting detailed, complexities” of Blackstone. I often thought he was destined to do the world a great service in the field of letters. But God knew best and he went to converse with the masters in the skies whose clear intellects live and move in a purer and hotter atmosphere than any he had known on earth. Instead of serving counties and states, he has been called to serve planets and worlds. He was ambitious, with an ardent desire characteristic of a mind born to be great. He longed with burning breast, for that superb individuality, which stands alone, supported only by honest convictions of right, and scorns to follow the rubble in wrong. On January 30, 1905, he wrote me, “After all, are we not to some extent guilty, (I am) of trying to be like somebody else? Do we not lose our individuality at times in our futile efforts to imitate greatness? Lets covenant together that we will be ourselves. Epietetus says, “If you have assumed any character beyond your strength, you have demeaned yourself ill in that, and quitted one which you might have supported”. I have followed so long in the conventional ruts of the rubble, ‘tis hard for me to assert myself to any appreciable extent” That sentence indicates the tendency of his heart and the trend of his thought. He did not live to please, he lived to help. He was no coward moral or physical. He dreamed of greatness, but greatness on a solid and permanent basis. He dreamed, and may be justly accused of building air castles; but his dreams were an inspiration and his air castles were heroic creations of his vigorous and versatile mind. He did not dream of greatness so much as of usefulness; and, if he spoke greatness more often it was because he felt that to be truly great meant usefulness in the broadest field and highest degree. That he loved praise, I do not deny. Hence, he wrote to me again, “I agree with you that we all delight in praise. Sometimes I think perhaps we go so far as to seek the praise and plaudits of others. But I believe it does a man good to be told of his virtues. It urges him to increased effort in the province of nobility. I do not believe in so much of this obsequious praise; I want it while it can help me along this perilous journey”. His frankness was admirable on all occasions but never repulsive. This was one of his favorite poems: “Master of human destinies am I Fame, love and fortune on my footsteps wait. Cities and field I walk; I penetrate Deserts and seas remote, and passing by Hovel and mart and palace, soon or late I knock unbidden once at every gate. If sleeping, awake; if feasting, arise before I turn away. It is the hour of fate. And they who follow me reach every state Mortals desire, and conquer every foe Save death; but those who doubt or hesitate Condemned to failure, penury, and woe, Seek me in vain and uselessly implore, I answer not, and I return no more! Everyone who knew him recognized his keen sense of humor and ready wit. I could give many of his favorite anecdotes and numerous original sallies of wit that shows best of all perhaps his truly human heart with its prompt appreciation of life on both it’s dark and its bright side. He loved life, and was in intimate and heart felt sympathy with all life on both its dark and its bright side. He loved life, and was in intimate and heart felt sympathy with all life and with all who have to live it. His nature was warm and his friendship faithful and unaffected. Here is the beginning of a letter:, Dear Charles, While I am freezing on one side and scorching on the other, I am going to try to endure it long enough to write you a short letter. This weather reminds me of the weather that the proverbial country store liar would tell. He said it was so cold one day that a kettle of boiling water froze so quick that ice was hot,” etc. In writing, he always seemed to me to be abrupt rather than sacrifice the truth with long drawn sentences of untruthfully modified or modifying words. His faith was strangely mixed with every feature of his being, in every phase of its activity. He often questioned. Where is a great mind who has not stood a side with tremulous interest and beheld in momentary uncertainty the startling testimonies of a thousand strange events that come trooping down a few brief years. Sometimes he wanted help, and said my faith was stronger than his own; if I helped him, I am grateful. He wrote on one occasion; “Men are disturbed, ruled, blessed, and happy, not by things, trouble, death, etc., but by the view which they take of things. So you see it all depends upon the point of view. Every one, to some extent, is the arbiter of his own destiny. It is true though, in my case at least, that within the last year, I have thought more about death, the future, than I had twenty-three years prior to that time. The last year five of my dearest friends have died, and a part of myself, hence I naturally think about all the beautiful thoughts incident to their decease. Here is a plaintive quotation, I do not fully understand: “In the democracy of the dead all men are equal. There is neither rank nor station nor prerogative in the republic of the grave. At this fatal there____ the philosophy ceases to be wise and the song of the poet is silent. Dives relinquishes his millions and Lazarus his rags. Here at last is natures final decree, inequity. The wrongs of time are redressed. Injustice is expiated, the wrong of fate is refuted, the unequal distribution of wealth, honor capacity, pleasure, and opportunity, which make life such a cruel and inexplicable tragedy, ceases in the realm of death. The strongest there has no supremacy, and the weakest needs no defense. The mightiest captain succumbs to that invincible adversary, who disarms alike the victor and the vanquished: “Study the above and give me your opinion when I see you.” That his mind was often interested and concerned with lofty themes, the above quotations shows. But his faith never failed him. Amid all the tragic scenes in his own young life, the Christ was ever before him, and love to him was a thing divine and real. His life was made tender through suffering because of the point of view”, he took. He wrote to me once: “We do not know what we can stand until the test comes. A year ago I would not have believed I could have stood what I have.” “How full of mournful tragedies of incomplete, _______ of fragmentary ambitions and successes this existence is! And yet how sweet and dear it is made by love! That alone never fails to satisfy and fill the soul. Wealth satisfy and fill the soul. Wealth satiates and ambition ceases to allure; we weary of eating and drinking, of going up and down the earth looking at its mountains and some of the sky that arches it, at the moon and stars that shine upon it, but never of the soul that we love and loves us, of the face that watches for us and grows brighter when we come. “Since Annie left me, the lines of Longfellow occur to one and cheer me: “Good night, good night; as we so oft have said Beneath this roof at midnight, in the days That are no more and shall no more return. Thou has but taken the lamp and gone to bed, I stay a little longer, as one says, To cover up the embers that still burn.” “Yes, I too have often thought and prayed, “Lead kindly light.” My favorite song, I believe, is, ‘Scatter Seeds of Kindness.’ There are some beautiful sentiments in that song. “I will try to spend one day in Oxford next week with you, if it will be perfectly convenient for you.” “Trust you came out O. K. with your exam. Your Friend, Jim.” Such faith as his rendered his whole life beautiful in simplicity with frequent touches of child-likeness such as must have won the approval of the Master. He was too completely overwhelmed with the immense proportions of life and the awful responsibility of living, to allow himself to be proud. His conception of life gave him an abundance of that most admirable of all graces, humility. He knew too much truth, and knew it too well to be proud. His humility was worthy of Sir Isaac Newton and his kindness almost like that of the Christ. Our humanity says he has gone. But is such the case? Does he not live still in the hearts of thousands? Newton County has known and loved and honored him, and is the better for it. She has no more illustrious son, so young and yet so devoted. She can ill afford to lose that vigorous and devoted young man. His recent opponent will permit me, I am sure, to say that it was not because the people loved and trusted him less but because they loved James Cooley more. His was truly a brilliant record for an adopted son; but no more brilliant than it was clean. So far as I knew him, his character was above reproach and his record was without a stain. He was not a financier, per chance. No young man with no capital but indebtedness and with the multiplied necessities of his aspiring soul, can succeed financially unless some peculiar providence favors him. But was honest, ruggedly, stubbornly honest with his fellow man, himself, and his God. I say that because I knew his inner life. It is no wonder that Newton County loved him. Any people would do well to cultivate love for such a man. I can say nothing more for him, perhaps, than that I knew him as I have known no other young man not related to me, and I loved him. Would time and space allow, my heart might be laid out in true and affectionate expressions in loving tribute at his feet. The Enterprise, November 22, 1907 A Tribute From a Friend When the news was brought to my sick room, that “Jim” Cooley was dead; I was dumbfounded; I felt a smothering as though my heart would stop it’s pulsations; and I choked up and cried like a child. I loved him. The first time I met him was when he was standing his examination for admission to the bar in Atlanta before Judge Roan. He impressed me so favorably then with his strict integrity, bright intellect and Christian character that I liked him. Then when I came to contact with him in the discharge of my duties I liked him more for his fairness, honesty and great love of truth. This acquaintance ripened into sincere friendship and we were thrown closer and closer together, and then it was that I took the true measure of the man. It has been my good fortune to meet many men in my life; but never have I met a man who hurled himself into my heart with so much force as did my dear friend. His rugged honesty was permanent in his character; he loved everybody; and never did I hear from his lips an unkind word about a living soul. Just before he was stricken down I had the pleasure of going to church with him, and after the sermon he was called on for prayer by the minister; then it was I who was convinced of his deep love for the meek and lowly Nazarene. A more earnest, unselfish and humble petition for the blessings that come only from Him who rules and understand, ever fell from his lips. We who knew him and loved him for all his matchless qualities say; Poor boy, how sad it is that you should be taken when you had pitched your tents in the land of your friends, when your first ambition had been gratified, when you were in the bloom of vigor and young manhood; when it seemed you had all to live for and when the sun and hope was at its height in the horizon of your ambition. But if we only knew the joy there is in death for those who die in the Lord we would envy the brightness of the star in his crown. No, thank God for his mercy and love “Jim” Cooley is not dead, but has reaped the rich reward of everlasting joy and peace of those who serve the Lord. The light of thy life my dear friend shall so shine before men as to glorify thy Father in heaven with whom you so peacefully rest. Wm. Scley Howard,, Kirkwood, Ga. November 11, 1907 The Enterprise, November 22, 1907 Mansfield Leader. Editor Cooley Dead Editor James P. Cooley is dead, but his name is not. Such people who live the life and do the good that he did. Will never be forgotten. Col. Cooley came to Newton County in 1901 from S. C., and engaged in teaching in the public schools of the county. In 1900 he was admitted to the bar, standing a most remarkable examination for person who had not studied law in a law school. A few months ago he was elected solicitor of the city court by the largest majority over opposition that has been given a candidate in years, which goes to prove his popularity with the people. Realizing has strength of character and his ability to do things, in the death of Col. Cooley, Newton loses a strong arm in the moral and educational up building of the county. ~~~~ Jonesboro Enterprise. Editor James P. Cooley, of the bright Covington Enterprise died at his home in that city, one day last week. He was a bright, hustling young journalist and his sad demise will be greatly mourned by the whole Georgia Press. He was known as a fearless writer, but made friends by the score. Peace to his ashes. Atlanta Georgian Editor Cooley is Dead. A career that promised a brilliant future has been cut off by the hand of death in the passing away of James P. Cooley, solicitor of the city court of Covington and editor of the Covington Enterprise. While not yet 28 years of age, Mr. Cooley has shown in that time what a young man of energy and determination can do even though handicapped at the outset. That he was loved and esteemed by his fellow-citizens was attested by the fact that 1,200 people, probably the largest number ever attending a funeral in Newton County, were present to pay tribute to his memory. Left fatherless when only five years of age, Mr. Cooley began the struggle of life. Education he snatched while earning a living of himself and family and many a hard day’s work was supplemented by hours of study far into the night. Such energy was bound to win and it resulted in his going through college while teaching school during vacations and his final admission to the bar in Atlanta by a brilliant examination. In October, 1906, he assumed charge of The Enterprise and immediately it because marked by his personality. Through his efforts it took its place in the front rank of Georgia Weeklies. The Enterprise will be conducted in the future by Attorney H. L. Bridges, of Atlanta, as administrator of Mr. Cooley’s estate. ~~~~ Walton Tribune. The editor of the Tribune feels a keen personal loss in the death of James P. Cooley. He was our friend, and we loved him. We had not known him for so long, but we are sure that we have never come in contact with a more splendid gentleman, a more loyal friend. Absolutely clean in his public and private life, a man of strong moral character and a high order of intelligence, he made himself felt and was a power for good. In his taking away the town of Covington and the county of Newton lose a great heart, a strong arm and a clear and brilliant mind. Generous, amiable and clever, his personality was indelibly impressed upon us a few months since when we were attending the annual meeting of the Weekly Press Association of Sandersville. We found him to combine all the brightest and best qualities of young manhood, and we were irresistibly drawn toward him. His illness grieved us. His death pains us. We loved him. God be with him, till we meet again. ~~~~ Macon Telegraph. The press of Georgia has lost a popular and valuable member by the death of Col. James P. Cooley, editor of the Covington Enterprise. He was ill about six weeks with typhoid fever. Just a few days before being taken sick he was elected solicitor of the new City Court of Covington by a large majority in an exciting race. In this capacity he has not acted, for the first session of the court convened Wednesday. Col Cooley was born in Newberry County, South Carolina, twenty-seven years ago. He came to Newton County in 1901, and immediately won the friendship of all with whom he came in contact. He taught the Oakland and Livingston high schools till 1906 when, in June, he was admitted to the bar, and then opened a law office in Covington. Eatonton Messenger Editor James P. Cooley of the Covington Enterprise, died at the home of his mother, Mrs. W. P. Berry, in Rocky Plains district, after an illness of about six weeks with typhoid fever. Col. Cooley had recently been elected as solicitor of the City Court of Covington, which convened in its first session on Wednesday, Nov. 6. ~~~~ Dublin Courier Dispatch The death of Editor Cooley was a great calamity, and has cast a gloom over the state. He was a splendid young man, well equipped as a lawyer and editor, and had a host of friends. Peace to his ashes. ~~~~ Conyers Free Press The many friends of James P. Cooley here learned with profound sorrow of his death which occurred at the home of his mother near Salem Campground. He had been sick for some weeks with typhoid fever. Colonel Cooley was a young man of the brightest prospects and was just beginning to enjoy the well earned fruits of his early struggles when he was summoned to appear before the Great Judge. Peace to his ashes. ~~~~ Henry County Weekly Mr. James P. Cooley, editor of the Covington Enterprise, died last Saturday, after an illness of six weeks from typhoid fever. He was a brilliant, able and splendid young man, and while he had not been long in the newspaper work yet he had endeared himself to the “boys” of the Weekly Press of the state, and in his death they all feel a distinct loss. Covington and Newton County looses one of their bright and promising young men in Mr. Cooley and his place will be hard to fill. ~~~~ Jackson Argus Col. James P. Cooley, a prominent lawyer and editor of the Covington Enterprise, died at the home of his mother in Rocky Plains district Saturday. Twelve hundred people attended the funeral, which is said to have been the largest ever held in Newton County. ~~~~ Commerce News We regret to note the death of Mr. James P. Cooley, editor of the Covington Enterprise and solicitor of the City Court of that city. He was a young man of fine physique, strong mentality and noble traits of character. ~~~~ Monticello News In the death of Col. James P. Cooley, editor of The Enterprise, Covington has lost one of her best young men, and the press one of its most brilliant editors. ~~~~ The Jackson Herald The press of Georgia has lost a popular and valuable member of the death of Col. James P. Cooley, editor of the Covington Enterprise. He was ill about six weeks with typhoid fever. Just a few days before being taken sick he was elected solicitor of the new City Court of Covington by a large majority in an exciting race. In this capacity he had not acted, for the first session of court convened Wednesday. The Enterprise, November 22, 1907 Resolutions Adopted by Board of Education Newton County. In school work, much depends upon the personal equation. Surely, not another at any time connected with the public schools of Newton County ever left upon his work a more marked impression of a strong personality than did James P. Cooley. Furthermore, through the columns of The Enterprise in the editorial capacity, Mr. Cooley did faithful service to the county’s educational interest. Therefore be it resolved by the Board of Education of Newton County: That, we deeply deplore the loss sustained by Newton’s School interests in our friend’s decease. That in our own behalf and on behalf of the county schools, we extend our sympathy to the bereaved ones. Be it further resolved: That there be drafted three copies of these resolutions; the first to be spread on our minutes; the second to be sent the mother of the deceased; and third for publication in The Enterprise. D. C. Adams A. J. Belcher A. H. foster, C S C, com. The Enterprise, November 29, 1907 Tribute to Prof. Cooley On Oct. 15, 1904, Livingston High School began with a man of fine physique as teacher. Little did I know of Prof. Cooley then, but as the school days rolled on, I learned to love him with a love that was inseparable. He treated every one so as to win their hearts and never was angry with them the least. He was a teacher in the school room and one of the boys on the playgrounds. When a very close play was made the boy called on him to decide, and his decision was always to the best of his ability. The motto he gave us was fairness and never did the pupils disapprove of his motto. When the time came for the election of another teacher everybody wanted Prof. Cooley, and all the pupils talked of him for the next teacher. Prof. Cooley’s life both spiritual and morally is worthy of emulation. He set an example that every young man should endeavor to imitate. Never did I hear him use a word of profane language and when his trials and temptations were greatest you could hear him sing that lovely song, “Keep on the Sunny Side of Live.” I sat at the feet of Prof. Cooley and learned as Paul sat at the feet of _______. Let every young man so govern themselves that when the great judgment comes we with Prof. Cooley will enter the joys that await us. (A pupil) Charles King File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ga/newton/obits/c/cooley4223gob.txt This file has been created by a form at http://www.genrecords.org/gafiles/ File size: 35.1 Kb