Generations of local leaders filled Shiloh Baptist Church in Northwest D.C. on Friday to pay their final respects to a woman who came from the segregated South and made a powerful difference for her people in the wake of the civil rights movement.
Maudine Cooper served as the president and CEO of the Greater Washington Urban League (GWUL) for more than two decades. Before, during and after her journey with GWUL, Cooper was a lawyer, public servant, mentor, family woman and trusted friend to many.
“Maudine was more than a leader, she was the embodiment of the Urban League values and principles, living the creed of ‘once an Urban Leauger,’ always an Urban Leaguer,’ in its truest form,” said Marc Morial, president and CEO of the National Urban League, in a statement after Cooper died Nov. 13.
Morial led the chorus of tributes from Urban League officials during Cooper’s funeral, where people celebrated the life of a woman who left Benoit, Mississippi, during segregation to become a freedom fighter.
“Maudine Cooper made sure that her time at the Greater Washington Urban League was well spent,” said Jerry Moore, former board chairman of the Greater Washington Urban League, who listed many of Cooper’s accomplishments. He added that Cooper “worked tirelessly to elevate the standards for African Americans,” while at the same time working, “to keep the agency financially sound.”
“Our time on this earth is glorious but brief, but our mark echoes into the ages,” said George Lambert, president of the Greater Washington Urban League, “When you lose someone like Maudine you become aware of how short the moment of life is. For us at the Greater Washington Urban League, our beloved colleague is now gone, but her legacy will thrive as she certainly will live through us.”
Cooper created Thursday Network, a national group that has trained thousands of young adults in civil rights and civil engagement. Both B. Michael Young and Derin Oduye, the former and current presidents of Thursday Network, weighed in on Cooper’s legacy.
“[Cooper] enriched our lives and made a lasting impact on us all,” said Young and Oduye said the civil rights leaders raised more than $2 million in scholarships.
Cooper’s close friends and family members offered touching comments about their loved one, including: the Administrative Law Judge Honorable Mollie Wagner Neal; Stephen Horblit of the American Jewish Committee, Janice Smith, former chief operating officer of the Greater Washington Urban League, Ryan A. Myers and Willa Hall Smith.
“She was a people person. She loved people. She wanted to help people,” said Smith, who added that Cooper also knew how to be diplomatic. “After meetings, she would thank people with grace and then she would say we will do that when Donkeys fly.”
Neal concluded by saying, “The D.C. community has lost one of its brightest lights.”
Speaking for the family were Cooper’s granddaughters Malissa and Leslie “Maggie,” Trent, noting they sometimes spoke at special meetings and enjoyed eating sushi and other meals on the floor with their grandmother.
The Rev. Wallace Charles Smith said he only needed about three minutes for Cooper’s eulogy because so much had been said.
He summed up her life as a love story. “She loved the Lord, and everyone who came into her life.”
