Chicago church remembers slain deacon

Photo: Chuck Berman/Chicago Tribune

From The Chicago Tribune: 

For the parishioners of St. Philip Neri Catholic Church on Sunday, it was obvious in so many ways that Deacon Willie Cooper was gone.

Someone else led the altar servers and lectors in prayer before Mass. Only the pastor poured holy water on a baby girl getting baptized. No one clapped a little too loudly as the choir sang. And Cooper’s seat near the altar was empty.

“There was a part of us missing,” said Celia Francies, 51, a church member who on Sunday read the prayer intentions, a ritual usually handled by Cooper. “And then to think of the senseless manner in which he left us. … It just saddens our hearts.”

In the early hours of Thursday, Cooper was headed to his job as a shuttle driver when he was killed.

The 74-year-old longtime deacon was picking up a co-worker shortly before 5 a.m. in the 7000 block of South East End Avenue. He had called the colleague right before he left home at 4:15 a.m., saying he was on his way, according to authorities and friends.

Cooper was waiting in a driveway in his car when two men approached him and shot him multiple times in the upper torso, according to police and Mamie Washington, his fiancee.

Chicago police said the incident is under investigation, but the motive may be robbery. Authorities stepped up their efforts over the weekend to find the gunmen, but as of Sunday they had not made any arrests.

Meanwhile, parishioners at the South Shore church were still in disbelief. As they walked inside Sunday, many of them exchanged hugs and wept. One person learned of the longtime deacon’s passing on the steps of the church minutes before Mass.

“You didn’t see that on the news?” one woman said to another after explaining what happened to the beloved deacon.

“Oh girl, I can’t believe it,” responded the other woman, who paused on the steps for a moment and looked down.

Inside the sanctuary, ushers handed out leaflets and bulletins with inserts honoring Cooper. In one handout, a photo showed Cooper in his white robes helping to baptize a toddler wearing a white dress. The picture was accompanied by the words “God Saw The Best In Me!”