In Memoriam: Sarah (Sally) Frances Cooper 1945 - 2024

Sarah (Sally) Frances Cooper is a widow of Victor Byers, formerly professor of Mathematics at Concordia University.

She leaves behind several cousins and their families in England, Scotland, the US and New Zealand, as well as many friends from her early days in London and from her later years in Montreal, where she arrived in 1968.

After obtaining a Masters Degree in Mathematics at McGill University Sally joined the Mathematics Department at Vanier College in the early 1970s, where she stayed until her retirement in 2006. She was a very active member of the community, taking on college-wide responsibilities in addition to her teaching.

Work alone did not define Sally. She read widely, with a particular interest in history. She loved music, played the viola, composed and played small works for the recorder, and regularly attended concert series and opera performances. She was knowledgeable about art, having developed a discerning eye at an early age, and took advantage of travel to further this interest. She loved her garden, happily sharing expertise and plants at any time. She was also very handy with a screwdriver, no menial task being beneath her dignity, to her own benefit or to that of her less competent friends. Dogs were her constant companions, and long years of walking them kept her fit until she succumbed to illness.

Perhaps one of Sally most memorable qualities was her acute sense of humour. A sudden gleam in her eye was the signal for a witticism she found irresistible. 

Sally spent the last five weeks of her life at Maison St Raphael, where she received exemplary care in a wonderfully compassionate environment. Those wishing to leave a donation in her memory can do so to Maison St Raphael, Montreal https://maisonstraphael.org/nous-soutenir/, or to the Battersea Dogs Home in London, England https://www.battersea.org.uk

Obituary: https://www.kanefetterly.qc.ca/en/obituaries.php?cnd=240443#/