Ann Louise Nixon Cooper was born on January 9, 1902, in Shelbyville, Bedford County, Tennessee, to James Henry Nixon and Molly George Nixon, in a family of six and one boy. Reared in Nashville, Tennessee, by uncles and an aunt, she was educated in the public school system of Nashville.

In 1922, in Nashville, she married Albert Berry Cooper, Jr. Establishing residence in Atlanta, the couple had four children: Gwendolyn Yvonne Cooper Mannings, Joyce Nixon Cooper Bobo, Albert Berry Cooper III, and Ann Marie Cooper Hooper.

Shortly after arriving in Atlanta, Mrs. Cooper assumed the role of wife, mother, social leader and community volunteer. She was active with the Georgia Dental Society Auxiliary for many years, serving as president at one point.

For fifty-odd years, Mrs. Cooper served on the Board of Directors of the Gate City Nursery Association as president of the board, an organizer of the auxiliary to the board, and in other capacities.

She served on the steering committee to organize a Black girls club, subsequently becoming the second president of the board and organizing an auxiliary, the Girls Club Guild, which is still active. During the 1970s, she served as a tutor to non-readers at Ebenezer Baptist Church.

She also was a Friends of the Library Board member, serving at one time as the board's vice president. In 1980, she received a Community Service Award from WXIA-Channel 11 for being an organizer of the black Cub Scouts and serving as the first den mother for four years.

A social leader, Mrs. Cooper belonged to various social clubs, such as the Pollyanna Bridge Club (active during the 1920s and 1930s), the Atlanta Chapter of the Links, Inc. (charter member), and the Jovial Coterie Bridge Club (charter member). She also was a longtime member of the First Congregational Church, where she was active and participated in many activities and organizations.

Because of her wealth of knowledge of early events and life in Atlanta, vivid memory and mental acuity, Mrs. Cooper was often called upon as a source of oral history. Former Herndon Home museum director Carole Merritt sought her expertise concerning the social life of the 1920s and the 1930s. Mrs. Cooper allowed the Herndon Home to display her collection of early wardrobe styles. She also donated photographs to the Apex Museum.

Mrs. Cooper joined the Utopian Literary Club in 1948 and served as president, treasurer and secretary at various times.

In 2002, she received the Annie L. McPheeters Medallion for community service from the Auburn Avenue Research Library on African American Culture and History.

After winning the presidential election on Nov. 4, 2008, President-elect Barack Obama mentioned the centenarian's name in his election speech that evening -- saying that Mrs. Cooper exemplified the struggle and progress of the African-American experience in the 20th and 21st centuries.

Mrs. Cooper passed away on Dec. 21, 2009, at the age of 107.