Springfield's Michael Cooper Sr. gets surprise visit to lift his spirits after stroke

Michael Cooper Sr.’s voice once echoed around Evans Stadium into the neighborhoods on the south side of Springfield.

“Wildcats, are you ready for some football?” Cooper would say as the public address announcer. “Make some nooooiiiiiiise!”

That same voice carried over to Springfield High School when it opened in 2008 and also to Wittenberg’s Pam Evans Smith Arena and Edwards-Maurer Field when Cooper’s son, Michael Cooper II, starred for the Tigers in basketball and football.

“And that’s the way I like it!” Cooper Sr. said after every victory.

Credit: Bill Lackey

Credit: Bill Lackey

In Lima, congregants at Greater Christ Temple know the voice for a different reason. Cooper Sr., a Suffragan Bishop, has been a pastor at the church for 36 years. Until last winter, he drove to Lima every week from Springfield. Then, in late January, he suffered a stroke.

The recovery has been a challenge for the 71-year-old Cooper, a graduate of Columbus East High School and Central State University. He hasn’t been home to Springfield since his stroke and now is being cared for and rehabbing at Trinity Community, an assisted-living facility in Fairborn.

To raise the spirits of his dad and motivate him in his rehab so he can get home, Cooper II organized a surprise service on Sunday at Trinity. Fifty three people from Greater Christ Temple hopped on a bus and rode to the service. Others drove themselves.

Cooper pushed his dad, who knew something was up but didn’t quite know what was about to happen, in a wheelchair into a meeting room where everyone stood and applauded.

Then for the next hour, dozens of people who normally listen to Cooper Sr. on Sundays, plus several other local pastors, took the microphone — one after the other for 30 seconds each — and told him what he means to them. Cooper Sr.’s wife Tobi sat next to him throughout the service.

Here’s a sampling of what they heard:

• “This is very hard for me to see you and your lovely wife go through this, but God knows. He’s in control of every situation. We may not understand. But He knows. He has brought you this far. We want to encourage you to hold on, hang in there and be strong.”

• “We love you. We miss you. And I’m glad that we were able to come down here to lift you up and let you know you’re needed and God’s not through with you yet.”

• “When Michael planned this whole thing, my heart just leapt, knowing we were all going to get to come down together as one body to see you and encourage you as you’ve done for us so many times. Know that there’s a hole in the church building waiting for you to come back. It’s not the same without you. We know you’re going to come through those doors again.”

• “Life is worth fighting for. It’s worth living. You’re cherished, and you’re needed.”

Every person walked over to Cooper and hugged him and kissed him on the forehead. At the end, Cooper Sr., his normally booming voice quieted by his health issues, spoke.

“I’m thankful for all the sacrifices that were made for you to be here today,” he said. “My heart is touched. I want to tell every one of you I love you with all of my heart. For you to take the time out and come be here and show me that you love me, it is really appreciated. I think of the goodness of Jesus and all he’s done for me. My soul cries out, ‘Hallelujah.’ Praise God for saving me.”

After the event, the whole group traveled to have lunch at Golden Corral. Cooper II said his dad was at a loss for words — a rare thing for a man who has spent his life talking, not only at his church but at the WBLY radio station in Springfield, where he started working after college and then South High School and the Springfield-Clark County Joint Vocational School, where he taught for many years.

“He just kept saying, ‘That’s love; that’s love,’” Cooper II said. “Seeing all those people taking time to come down, it really meant a lot to him. It showed him how much he is really loved. Because sometimes when you’re in a situation like he is you can quickly lose sight of your purpose and what you mean to different people. He was able to recapture that a little bit.”