Joseph Nargba Cooper (16 August 1918 – 22 May 1975) was a

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

n politician from

Bong County Bong is a county in the north-central portion of the West African nation of Liberia. One of 15 counties that comprise the first-level of administrative division in the nation, it has twelve districts. Gbarnga serves as the capital. The area of th ...

who held office in the third quarter of the twentieth century. Born on 16 August 1918 in the town of Gbaudi in

Zorzor District Zorzor District is one of six districts located in Lofa County, Liberia. Zorzor is principal city of the county. Among the county's natives was Joseph Nargba Cooper; born in the district town of Gbaudi in 1918, Cooper was a member of the Ho ...

, Lofa County, he was the son of Porkpa Womma and Nowai Gbanasei. After receiving his early education in a

Lutheran Lutheranism is one of the largest branches of Protestantism, identifying primarily with the theology of Martin Luther, the 16th-century German monk and reformer whose efforts to reform the theology and practice of the Catholic Church launched th ...

school at

Zorzor Zorzor is the second largest city in Lofa County, Liberia. Located far from Liberia's capital of Monrovia, it is a local trade center for agricultural products such as rice, cassava, pineapples, palm oil, and palm kernels. Zorzor's major ethnic ...

, Cooper left in 1933 to follow his brother Charlie to Kakata, where he finished his education at a Catholic mission school. Having completed his schooling, Cooper entered the employ of the Firestone Plantation Company; here he worked until 1944, when the government hired him to become a

chauffeur A chauffeur is a person employed to drive a passenger motor vehicle, especially a luxury vehicle such as a large sedan or limousine. Originally, such drivers were often personal employees of the vehicle owner, but this has changed to speciali ...

for President Tubman. Later in his government service, Cooper was the Native Advocate for the Central Province. In 1967, Cooper was elected to fill one of Bong County's seats in the House of Representatives; he continued to occupy this office until his death, which occurred in a Bong County hospital on 22 May 1975. From 29 January 1950 until his death, Cooper was married to the former Emma L. Jensen, a native of Sanoyie; they had four sons and four daughters. As an adult, Cooper was affiliated with the Lutheran church."Ɔnɔɓɔ Kôpa a Saa/The Death of Honourable Cooper". ''Kpɛlɛɛ Worɛ-woo-ŋa/The Kpelle Messenger'' 19.7 (1975): 1/5.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Joseph Nargba 1918 births 1975 deaths 20th-century Lutherans Bridgestone people Liberian government officials Liberian Lutherans Members of the House of Representatives of Liberia People from Bong County People from Lofa County