Jane Bliss Cooper Obituary

Our beloved Jane Bliss Cooper will be deeply missed by her family & friends. She passed peacefully on November 7, 2024 in Wheat Ridge, Colorado. She was 102.
Known for her intelligence, sharp wit, intrepid spirit, and love of daiquiris, Jane was devoted to science, enjoyed traveling, learning languages, baking French pastries, making jewelry in her basement workshop, and dirty limericks. A lifelong grammarian, until very recently she enforced language usage rules among her caretakers at the assisted living facility where she resided for several years.
Jane was born and raised in Albuquerque, New Mexico, to the late Elmer and Elizabeth "Bessie" Bliss on January 26, 1922. She was the older of two daughters; her sister Helen "Hannah" Bliss Kennedy was two years younger (1924-1999).
Jane was lucky to have attended Sandia School for Girls in Albuquerque, one of the few private girls' schools of that era. She later attended the University of New Mexico for two years before deciding that she would take a different path. Always independently minded for a woman of her time, she boarded a train in Albuquerque by herself and traveled to Boulder, Colorado, where she was admitted to the Department of Ecology and Evolution at the University of Colorado. She was a lifelong member of Kappa Kappa Gamma.
While there, she met her lifelong friend Anne Ferril, the daughter of renowned Colorado poet Thomas Hornsby Ferril. According to family lore, Anne invited Jane to go on a double date and was introduced to Thomas Hamilton Cooper (1918-2003), a classically trained pianist who was studying chemical engineering at the University of Colorado at Boulder. The two dated while they finished college, and Thomas went off to serve in the Navy. Jane graduated with a bachelor's degree in zoology in 1943. After graduation, she went on to work as a bacteriologist at Children's Hospital.
She and Thomas married in Denver, Colorado in 1948, where they lived most of the rest of their lives, and had three children. Tom had a thirst for adventure and Jane was right there with him. Or maybe it was Jane who inspired Tom-what is clear is that they encouraged each other to be intrepid. They loved taking their children, from a young age, on camping trips, four wheeling, hiking, canoeing, kayaking, fishing and whatever else they could dream up. Jane was the consummate packer for any of these adventures; she had a well-planned camping box for each type of trip. After the family happened upon an old miner's cabin in the Rocky Mountains (the Orphan Boy"), they often visited it and opened it to the public for any hikers or bears who might want to stay there.
The couple also became well known in cultural and business circles in Denver. Thomas owned a plastics company, he and Jane hosted many parties of socialites in their home in Cherry Creek. They had renovated an old adobe house with modern flourishes, making the structure an unusual architectural sight in the neighborhood until it was demolished in the early 2000s.
Once her children were in school, Jane went back to work as a microbiologist and cytogenetic technician with notable genetics researchers, including Theodore Puck, MD who was the chair of Department of Biophysics at the University of Colorado Medical School. Dr. Puck's work in somatic cell genetics and single-cell plating, an early form of genetic cloning, generated insights into the workings of DNA and paved the way for the international Human Genome Project (1990 to 2003). Jane later worked for many years at Reproductive Genetics Center, PC, in Denver, Colorado with genetics researcher David Peakman.
Jane was science all the way. She even ran her kitchen like a chemistry lab, experimenting on how to make the best bread or croissants. She made fabulous dinners for the many parties that she and Tom had for friends and family. She was an excellent seamstress, making many of her clothes and teaching her daughter and others how to sew. Later she took up jewelry making and set up shop in our family home basement. It wasn't a money maker, but she made some nice pieces for her family to cherish.
Later in life, Jane and Tom traveled and did volunteer work in Mexico, El Salvador, Venezuela and Zambia. Tom was a consultant for various plastics companies and Jane would help at different labs wherever they traveled. Tom died in 2003 at age 85.
Jane was also an active member of the Arapahoe Tennis Club for many years, where she enjoyed playing tennis, swimming, and sunbathing. At the age of 65, she and Tom started jogging for fitness. She went on to run in several races. She probably would have played pickle ball if her knees had not gone out at 90.
Jane is survived by her daughter Anne Cooper Salazar and son-in-law José Salazar; sons Tony and Nat Cooper; grandchildren Eric Salazar, Cristian Salazar, Sarah Jane Cooper, Emi Cooper, Thomas Cooper and Peter Cooper; and great grandchildren Parry Matte, Jacob Rice, Vesper Salazar, Clio Salazar, Isaac Salazar, and Felix Edwin Cooper Hovatter.
Jane wished for her friends and family to celebrate her life. Enjoy a drink or maybe a daiquiri, her favorite, in her honor. We will be planning a Celebration of Life at a future date.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that you donate in the name of Jane Bliss Cooper to any of the following organizations:
Planned Parenthood at https://www.plannedparenthood.org/
NARAL at https://reproductivefreedomforall.org/
Sierra Club at https://act.sierraclub.org/donate
Denver Museum of Nature and Science at https://www.dmns.org/?campaign=607664
Denver Botanic Gardens at https://www.botanicgardens.org/join-give/donate