William Edward Cooley

"COOLEY"

William Edward Cooley
December 5, 1890 - May, 1970

"My Grandparents"

William Edward Cooley, known by all as Ed, was the son of William Calvin and Mary Lou Farmer Cooley. He grew up in the Harmons Creek Community of Benton County and married Lou Gather Melton, daughter of Thomas Jefferson and Lenora Snyder Melton, on April 3, 1910. They lived in several places in the community until the death of Gather's father, Thomas Jefferson Melton. In his will he left his land to Gather and her brother Grover Melton. These two families lived side by side all their lives. The location of the home place was on the north west side of Harmons Creek, and was originally a portion of land owned by Etheldred Melton, the great-grandfather of Gather and Grover. Grover married a sister of Ed's and their children were raised side by side and were as close as brothers and sisters.

In later years, Ed Cooley established a small "Mom and Pop" grocery on Harmons Creek Road. This was to become a well known landmark in Benton County. "Grandady" was a tall thin man of Irish ancestry. He had sandy hair and blue eyes. He was always kind to his fellow man. Every one who knew of Cooley's grocery could tell you how they enjoyed setting around the old wood stove on a cold winter day and swap a story or two. But time passes and so into history goes Cooley's grocery. As a young girl growing up in the Harmons Creek area, how I loved to go to grandady's grocery. There was alway a special treat waiting and a cold Coca Cola from the cooler. I wonder sometimes how he ever made a profit as all six of us grandkids always ate free.

Ed and Gather's children were:

Nora Morie, b. November 27 1913 - d. 1930

William Hershel, b. October 7, 1917 - d. 1992; m. Dorothy Melton

Frances Irene, b. December 10, 1919 - d. April 29, 1994; m. Robert Henry Cauthen

Ethelene, b. June 21 1923; m. Kenneth Wayne Holland.

William Edward Cooley and Lou Gather Melton Cooley are buried beside their daughter Morie, in the Farmer Cemetery in the Harmons Creek Community of Benton County, Tennessee.

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