Last month, when Jeanette Cooper saw Southold Town 250 co-chairs Denis Noncarrow and Denise Schlachter walking toward her in a restaurant carrying flowers and a letter, she glanced over her shoulder.
“I was thinking they were walking to somebody standing behind me,” Cooper recalled.
There was no one there.
Noncarrow and Schlachter were there for her, delivering news that left the longtime New Suffolk mom stunned to learn that she had been selected as grand marshal of Southold’s Fourth of July parade, a centerpiece of this year’s celebration marking the 250th anniversary of American independence.
The reaction did not surprise those who know her.
“She’s just one of the nicest people you’re ever going to meet,” said Prudence Heston, co-owner of Salt Air Farm and a longtime friend. “She knows everybody on the North Fork. She helps everybody on the North Fork. She’s one of these people that if she can get out there and help you out, she’s going to.”
Heston said the honor was well-deserved.
“I was so pleased to hear them say that they were offering her that,” she said. “I was thinking to myself that sounds just perfect for her.”
‘Salt of the earth’
The designation recognizes years of community service, volunteer work and involvement in organizations throughout Southold Town.
Cooper said last week that she was still “just stunned, really, and very honored and humbled” by the recognition.
A nurse by profession, Cooper spent 16 years working at San Simeon by the Sound before stepping away to raise her children. She later returned to nursing and now works in the Southold School District. She has been active in Mattituck Presbyterian Church for decades, volunteers with the Cutchogue Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, supports the American Legion and has worked alongside Heston at Salt Air Farm for nearly 20 years.
Friends describe her as someone who is constantly moving between family obligations, church activities, community events and volunteer work, without ever drawing attention to herself.
“The story of Jeanette Cooper made for an easy selection for this major event,” Noncarrow – Southold’s Town Clerk – said this week. “She’s a humble, caring, faith-filled, family person, and that just is what our town is all about. She’s somebody that you absolutely want as your next-door neighbor – such a dynamic and great person.”
State Sen. Anthony Palumbo has known the Cooper family for decades. He lives just up the road from them in New Suffolk, and the families have long been close. The Cooper and Palumbo children grew up together.
He called Jeanette “just an amazing person,” and “salt of the earth,” whose commitment to others has never wavered, even after the devastating loss of her husband, Jason, who died in an accident in 2017, at the age of 47.
“She suffered some tragedies in her life, and it only strengthened her resolve.”
A Southold High School graduate, Gulf War veteran, Air National Guard master sergeant and longtime member of the Cutchogue Fire Department, Jason Cooper was widely known throughout the community for his own commitment to service.
But Palumbo said the qualities being recognized today were present long before that loss.
The little red schoolhouse in New Suffolk means a lot to the Cooper family. Jason had attended the school as a child. So had his parents. Later, he and Jeanette would send their own children there. Years ago, when the school district lost its custodian, Jason Cooper stepped in to help.
“He just did it for free,” Palumbo recalled. “He cared for the grounds. Jeanette would help him out. They’d mow the lawn … These are the kind of people we’re talking about. They really are unique.”
‘Counted on in so many ways’
Heston sees the same qualities every day.
At Salt Air Farm, Cooper helps with everything from field work and harvesting to floral design and arranging. The two women also teach Sunday school together.
“She’s counted on in so many ways,” Heston said.
Despite all of it, Cooper isn’t so sure she deserves special attention.
“I honestly feel like in my heart that I just represent a lot of us out here,” Cooper said. “We all work hard. We care about our family, our faith, and try to keep our chin up.”
‘Such a big summer’
Before she learned she had been selected as grand marshal, Cooper was talking with her son, Thomas, about the coming summer and Southold’s celebration of America’s 250th birthday – unaware that he was helping orchestrate the surprise.
She was already thinking about how busy the season would be.
“This is going to be such a big summer,” she told him excitedly over dinner. “Everything’s going to start turning red, white and blue. We’re turning 250 years old, and we’re the first settlers.”
As a member of the Cutchogue Fire Department Ladies Auxiliary, the American Legion and several other community organizations, she was trying to figure out which group she would march with in the parade.
Thomas already knew the answer.
“Don’t worry,” he told her. “You’ll figure it out.”
A short time later, when Noncarrow and Schlachter arrived with flowers and congratulations, Cooper understood what her son had meant.
On the Fourth of July, instead of marching with one organization, she’ll lead them all.