Verna Lea Peters Cooper Rosebeary died surrounded by loving family early Saturday evening, March 28, 2020 at Creekside Village, Ponca City, after a lengthy illness. She was 94.

The daughter of Earl LeRoy and Wilhelmena Charlotte (Kahle) Peters, Verna was born September 20, 1925 south of Newkirk. After attending Pioneer Rural School, Kildare and Newkirk schools, Verna graduated from Ponca City High School in 1943. One week later, at the age of 17, she entered nursing school. In May 1946, she graduated from St. Mary’s Nursing School in Winfield, Kan. The next month, she found herself across the country in Oregon at her first job: a doctor’s office in Lakeview. She also worked in hospitals in Klamath Falls and Newport, Oregon.

In 1947, Verna married Robert L. Cooper. They were married for nearly 27 years and had two sons. In 1971, she moved back to Kansas to work at Memorial Hospital in Arkansas City, where she was in charge of the Intensive Care Unit for 13 years. She also worked evenings for several years at Presbyterian Manor.

In 1980, Verna and David Rosebeary, Sr. were married in Arkansas City where they made their home until his death in 1996. She later moved to Ponca City where she was a member of the First Lutheran Church and enjoyed church friends and the community as a member of the women’s guild and quilting circle.

Verna embraced life and enjoyed clam digging and beach combing in Oregon. She and her first husband owned a pleasure craft from which they spent many hours of deep-sea fishing and Dungeness crabbing.

They entertained captains from international cargo ships that docked in Newport. She was known as quite the entertainer and enjoyed talking to world travelers. Always a hard worker, Verna worked at Pacific Community Hospital in Newport on night shift and managed an RV park during the day. In her early years in Oregon, she helped her husband form a logging company in northern California. The couple built a cabin on a lake in Klamath Falls, Ore. where Verna loved to water ski.

Verna loved to travel. After she retired from nursing in Ark City and David retired from the Total Refinery, they purchased an RV and traveled the country. They also traveled to London, England. After David’s death, Verna joined the Home National Bank Heritage Club to enjoy more travel, including Alaska, Hawaii, the northeast of the United States, and a cruise through the Panama Canal.

Verna is survived by two sons, Mark Cooper and wife Consuela, of Newport, Ore., and Todd Cooper and wife Selia, of Ponca City; stepchildren, David Rosebeary, Jr., and wife Holly, of Ardmore, Okla., and Carol Jo Smith, of McPherson, Kan.; a sister Velma Jean Grose, of Newkirk; grandchildren, Marisa Bourdage and husband Josh, of Bend, Ore., Kyle Cooper, of Newport, Ore., Justin Rosebeary and wife Bridgett, of Edmond, Okla., Neil Rosebeary, of Wichita, Emelie Schroeder and husband Neil, of McPherson, Kan., Kelly Smith, of Hutchinson, Kan.; great-grandchildren, Cooper Thomas Bourdage, of Bend; Alex McKenna Schroeder, of McPherson, and Greg Alton Rosebeary, of Edmond, Okla.; and many cousins, nieces and loving friends.

She was preceded in death by her husband David Rosebeary, Sr.; her parents; her sisters Lois Peters and Lorraine Salamone; her brothers LaVerne Peters and LeRoy Peters; as well as her brothers- and sisters-in-law; and her nephew Trevor Smith.

Cremation has been effected. Memorial graveside services will be held at a later date in the Newkirk Cemetery. Arrangements are under the direction of Miller-Stahl Funeral Service.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorial contributions be made to Hospice of North Central Oklahoma, 445 Fairview Ave., Ponca City, Okla., 74601-1923.

paid obituary