Staff report

On June 4, 2005, the Rev. Dr. Rose Marie Blanchard Cooper earned a doctor of ministry degree from Norfolk Theological Seminary and College in Norfolk.

She is a former graduate of Nansemond County Training High School, now known as Southwestern Middle School in Suffolk. She also graduated from Tidewater Community College with an associate applied science and registered nurse degrees.

In 2001, she earned a bachelor’s of arts degree in religious studies from the Virginia University of Lynchburg in Lynchburg. In May 2004, she received a master’s degree in religious studies, earning the highest grade point average. Cooper was also named the student of the year. She went on to receive a master’s of divinity degree with the highest grade point average.

Cooper resides in Suffolk with her husband, Willie E. Cooper Jr. They have three sons and six grandchildren. She is a retired registered nurse and an associate minister of Tabernacle Christian Church in Suffolk, under the leadership of the Rev. Dr. Carlton R. Upton Sr.

At Tabernacle, she is the chairperson of the women’s ministry and founder of the senior citizen’s activity program.

Cooper is the daughter of John Henry Blanchard and the late Luemurt Saunders Blanchard of the Holland section of Suffolk.