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Colonel <em>Vaughn Washington Cooper </em>was born in Davidson County, Tennessee, December 7, 1880, at the home of his grandfather, Hiram Vaughn, just east of the present Shelby Park. His mother was the former Sarah Theadosia Vaughn, and his father, James Litton Cooper. His early life was spent at the farm of his parents, Longfield, at the end of the Vaughn Pike and immediately north of the Hiram Vaughn place. He attended the old 18th District school, Spout Spring, until 1894, when he entered Wallace’s University School, then located on South High Street. In 1898 he graduated from Wallace’s and entered the Engineering Department of Vanderbilt in the Class of 1902. At Vanderbilt Cooper made no record as a student, but was active in athletics, winning a “V” in both baseball and football.</div>
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In 1900 he received from Senator William B. Bate the first Senatorial appointment from Tennessee, as a Cadet at the United States Military Academy at West Point, and entered with the Class of 1904. At West Point Cooper was again active in Athletics, winning an “A” in both football and baseball. He was also one of the six cadet captains in his First Class year, and graduated 14th in his class of 124.</div>
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Upon graduation in 1904 he was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Cavalry and sent to the Philippines for duty with the 12th Cavalry. On return from the Philippines he served at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia; Norfolk, Virginia, and other posts until 1907, when he was ordered back to West Point as an instructor in mathematics. He remaimd at West Point for the next five years, serving as an instructor in mathematics, and 1st addition, as an assistant football coach, three years he was a member of the Intercollegiate Football Rules Committee.</div>
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After leaving West Point in 1912, Cooper again went to the Philippines for three years with the 8th Cavalry. He was a member of the 8th Cavalry championship, Far Eastern Polo team, served in Jolo and Luzon and returned to the United States with the Regiment in 1915. He was stationed with the 8th Cavalry at Fort Bliss, Texas, and other border posts until the outbreak of World War I. In the summer of 1917 Cooper was assigned to the 77th Division and accompanied the Division to France. In France and Germany for the next two years, he served with the 77th Division, as a student and an instructor at the General Staff School at Langre, as G-3, and as Chief of Staff of the 6th Division, returning to the United States with the Division in 1919.</div>
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Back in the United States, Cooper served three tours with the War Department General Staff in Washington, and at various posts with the Staff, and with the 7th Cavalry.</div>
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In 1929 he was ordered to Los Angeles, California, for duty with the Committee arranging for the Olympiad, and served with this Committee until his retirement for physical disability in 1932. On retirement he returned to Nashville to live, and except for about a year’s active duty in Washington as World War II was beginning, remained thereafter.</div>
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Colonel Cooper was a bachelor. He is survived by two brothers and a sister, Edwin W. Cooper, William P. Cooper, and Mrs. Norman Frost, all of Nashville, and by a number of nephews and nieces.</div>
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