Rati Cooper Passes Away
On 8th March, 2019, Rati Cooper – one of our Community’s foremost educators, based in Lahore, passed away at the age of eighty-nine. Popularly known as ‘Miss Cooper’, Rati Cooper brought about a huge difference in the lives of thousands of students who had the good fortune to study under her passionate zeal comprising wisdom and compassion in equal measure. Friend, philosopher and guide to many, she will be remembered for a long, long time.
A young lady in her twenties, from a sophisticated and elite Zoroastrian family from Lahore, Rati was persuaded by the British Council to take over a school in Rajkot in March, 1958 and proved to be its greatest asset to the school and the students alike. She was highly qualified and experienced – Bachelor’s degree in English, French and Philosophy from the Sacred Heart College, Master in Philosophy of Education from New York State College, Albany, USA, and a summer course in English language from Oriel College, Dept. of Extramural Studies, Oxford. She was a recipient of the Fulbright Award for Travel and Study in USA and the British Council Visitorship Award. She had done several courses in Western Classical Music as well.
Miss Cooper brought with her a passion for education, unadulterated affection for children, devotion to duty and commitment to her chosen vocation and respect for her seniors and rules and regulations of the College, serving as Principal Emeritus towards the end.
In a fitting tribute to a great educator, one of her ex-students has written, “We remember the amount of time and toil you have put in to prepare us to take all the challenges in our stride and carve a niche for ourselves in later life. You have taught us to take a broad view of things; of thinking with courage and acting with faith; of keeping our ideals and moral principles intact, regardless of what conditions or what kind of world we might one day be called upon to face.”
