Wilma Lee Cooper Dies

Grand Ole Opry member Wilma Lee Cooper passed away on September 13th at her home in Sweetwater, Tennessee, from natural causes. She was 90. Cooper, who performed with husband Stoney Cooper, became a member of the Opry in 1957. Her last solo performance on the Opry was at the Ryman Auditorium on February 24, 2001. She joined the Opry cast at the grand re-opening of the Opry House on September 28, 2010, for a group sing-along. Born Wilma Leigh Leary, she began working early as a member of West Virginia’s Leary Family. She achieved prominence in the 1940s performing with her late husband, fiddler Stoney Cooper. Cooper continued performing with her group, the Clinch Mountain Clan, after Stoney’s death in March 1977 and was an Opry regular until a stroke suffered onstage in 2001 forced her to stop performing.