SUFFOLK—Paralee P. Cooper, 90, of Sleep Lake, died Sept. 5, 2007, at Maryview Hospital in Portsmouth.

A native of Red Oak, N.C., she moved to Portsmouth in 1944. A homemaker for most of her adult life, she worked for General Electric for 15 years, retiring in 1981.

She was an active member of Alexander Baptist Church in Portsmouth for more than 60 years. She considered Bethany Baptist Church in Portsmouth her “second church home.”

She was the widow of the late Horace Hill Cooper, and she was preceded in death by three sisters, a brother, an infant child and two grandchildren.

Survivors include four daughters, Nancy Jones of Virginia Beach,

Merilynn Spears of Suffolk, Gail Dobbins and her husband, Walter, of Bothell, Wash., and Yvonne Stampley and her husband, Andy, of Greensboro, N.C.; two sons, Phil Cooper of Norfolk and Hill Cooper and his wife, Karen, of Suffolk; 10 grandchildren, including Tidewater News staff writer Res Spears; nine great-grandchildren and four great-great-grandchildren.

The family will receive friends at Loving Funeral Home on Academy Avenue in Portsmouth from

6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. today.

The funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Saturday at Loving Funeral Home, conducted by Dr. Archie Corbin of Alexander Baptist Church and Dr. Gene Primm of Bethany Baptist Church.

Burial will follow at Olive Branch Cemetery.