Pam and Doug Cooper arrived in The Village at Castle Pines following Doug’s retirement in 2013. An attorney, Doug had enjoyed previous legal postings in Cleveland, Detroit and Dayton. Since then, the Coopers have burrowed deep into the local social and governing fabric.

Doug’s story begins in Ithaca, New York, where his mother and father met at Cornell University. Upon returning from service with the Army Air Corps in Europe during World War II, Doug’s father completed his studies at Cornell and Doug arrived the following year.

In those heady and fabulous 50s, Doug, like many, became addicted to that new American phenomenon: rock ‘n’ roll. One could buy 45-rpm discs for 79 cents, stack them on the spindle, and rock the night away.

Doug’s family eventually migrated to Philadelphia, where he enjoyed watching trials in its imposing city hall courtrooms. Even so, when enrolling at North Carolina State University, he chose architecture as his major, shifting later to sociology. Neither turned him on but fraternity life did. There, he was a star!

Pam was born and raised in Cleveland, the daughter of a family practice physician and a registered nurse. Carrying on the family’s medical tradition, she enrolled as a nursing student at Duke University. In 1968, Doug attended a Duke-NC State football game in Durham with his roommate, who had a hometown friend who Doug agreed to meet. The friend’s date was Pam.  Doug took notice and not long after, invited Pam to a fraternity party, and the rest, as they say, is history. They married in 1970.

Pam graduated from Duke with her BS in nursing in 1971. Still unsure about his future, Doug had not forgotten his childhood infatuation with law. With Pam’s concurrence and financial support as a full-time nurse, Doug enrolled at the University of North Carolina School of Law, graduating in 1974.

Pam and Doug have two children: James, a transplant nephrologist and professor of medicine at CU Anschutz School of Medicine, and Sarah, an executive at Denver Health. Five grandchildren are nearby—the oldest is 19 and the youngest, twin girls, are 3.

As a board member for The Village at Castle Pines Homes Association, Doug remains a significant voice of reason. Asked for the basis of his success in life, Doug answered, “Practicing the Golden Rule: ‘Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.’”

Doug and Pam enjoy playing fetch with Ruby, their Labradoodle, bridge with friends, a good game of pickleball and time with family. Over the years, Doug’s love for music has broadened to include other musical eras and genres. But he still retains his love for early rock ‘n’ roll and often plays some of his 1,500 or so 45s from a vintage Seeburg jukebox at home. Street scuttlebutt has it that Doug and Pam can still really cut a rug!

 

 

By Joe Gschwendtner; photos courtesy of Doug Cooper