SEATTLE – Memories of Mary Cooper’s laughter have faded ever so slightly in the many months since she died, friends said.
What hasn’t dimmed are the memories of the love, compassion and bright smile of the 54-year-old school librarian killed with her daughter near Mount Pilchuck last summer.
“You just have to hang onto everything about her,” said Linda Spoor, a friend and fellow librarian in the Seattle school district.
At a ceremony tonight at a Seattle elementary school, the library where Cooper taught will be named in her memory.
It’s an appropriate and fitting tribute to the woman who was described as “beyond all others” and the “heartbeat” of the Decatur Elementary School, friends and colleagues said.
Cooper and her daughter, Susanna Stodden, 26, were found shot dead on July 11 on the Pinnacle Lake Trail near Verlot.
No arrests have been made.
“This is still very much an active investigation,” Snohomish County sheriff’s spokeswoman Rebecca Hover said.
She declined to provide any additional details about the nearly yearlong search for the women’s killer or killers.
The unanswered questions about the women’s death mix with memories, friends say.
“There’s an abiding interest that we want to see whoever perpetrated this crime brought to justice,” said Mark Funk, whose children go to the school where Cooper taught. He’s also a former aide to Snohomish County Executive Aaron Reardon.
“Our thoughts are with the Snohomish County investigators,” he said. “We recognize this is not an easy case.”
Another school parent, Steve Hint, a Seattle sculptor, has built a new doorway to the library in Cooper’s memory.
It is scheduled to be installed over the next few days.
The sculpted door will evoke Cooper’s interest in nature, gardening and books, he said.
“The library door becomes, in essence, a book, opening minds, opening the library,” he said.
Cooper touched many lives at the school where she spent 15 years as the librarian, colleagues said.
Her husband, David Stodden, said Wednesday he is moved by the library’s dedication.
The school was “a community that Mary relished and loved being a part of,” Stodden said.
To many people, Cooper was at the center of school life.
“Mary was the heartbeat of the school,” Principal John Miner said. “I feel fortunate to have known her, to have had time with a really good friend. And fortunate to have connected with a new librarian who stepped into a really difficult situation.”
When Ginny Allemann, 41, took Cooper’s place in the library, the transition for the school was tough and emotional.
Students helped ease Allemann into the library, showing her Cooper’s favorite books and the plush oversized dice she used to settle disputes between students.
“They were very gracious. I never felt the kids thought I should do things the way Mary did,” she said.
While many adults still grieve for Cooper every day, most, but not all, of the students are more resilient, Miner said.
Early this school year, one child who transferred from Decatur to View Ridge Elementary where Cooper’s friend Linda Spoor is the librarian, was having a hard time.
Spoor said that Cooper’s memory brought the student out.
“All I had to say to her was, ‘Mary, the librarian, was a good friend of mine and I miss her a lot,’ ” Spoor said.
“The child said, ‘Me, too.’
“And that child’s been spending a lot of time in the library.”
The Snohomish County Sheriffs Office asks anyone with information about the July 11, 2006, killings of Mary Cooper and daughter Susanna Stodden to call the sheriffs tip line at 425-388-3845. Tips also may be called in to Crime Stoppers of Puget Sound toll-free at 800-CRIME13 (800-274-6313).
The nonprofit organization The Mountaineers and friends of the Stodden family are offering a $26,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of whoever is responsible for the crimes.
Donations can be made to the Mary Cooper and Susanna Stodden Reward Fund in care of Mountaineers Books at any Bank of America branch.
Winter storms closed the U.S. Forest Service road to the Pinnacle Lake trailhead, officials said.
Theres no estimate for when the road may be repaired.
People can still climb the trail but will have to hike a longer distance along the road to get to the trailhead, officials said.
Reporter Jackson Holtz: 425-339-3437 or jholtz@heraldnet.com.
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