Name: McCabe Cooley2 
   Born: 22 Nov 1899
  Place: Lucerne, Putnam Co., MO
   Died: 7 Jan 1958
  Place: Oakland, Alameda Co., CA
Married: 4 Apr 1920
  Place: San Francisco, CA
Y-Haplo: R1a-YP4491
M-Haplo: V1a1

McCabe Cooley c1917

McCabe and his brother William "Jack" Allison Cooley, who died in France during the Meuse-Argonne offensive, are referenced several times in From Doniphan to Verdun: the Official History of the 140th Infantry, by Evan Alexander Edwards (1920). It's likely that the mention of "Cooley" in the following passage from the book is a specific reference to William since the author, Evan Edwards, knew the brothers well and had written to their family following William's death.

The men of the 140th were scattered through every state in the Union. Volunteers, they were men who put these old United States first. Good soldiers once, they are good citizens now and, if the necessity comes, will again prove themselves good soldiers.

Many of them could not return to hear the acclaim of comrades and the praise of men. Heroes of the decoration of The Wooden Cross, they sleep in a distant land. The Nation honors them.

Some night when the rain is dashing against the windows, and we sit alone watching the fire-some night we shall see them all again-together we shall march over muddy, endless roads; together we shall wait and watch in the trenches; together we shall struggle forward against a storm of shot and shell over the bloody fields and valleys of the Argonne. The shadowy forms of our comrades will be with us-Davis and Scott and Kenady and Holden and Champion and Compton and Roberts and Stigall and Stein and Sam Adams and Tanner and Holt and Robertson and Dillon and Cooley and half a battalion more. Our hearts will thrill, and the tears will flood our eyes, and we shall whisper: "The old One Hundred and Fortieth. God bless them! There never was a finer Regiment!" (Edwards, 146)

My grandfather died just before my eighth birthday. I remember only two interactions with him. (I don't think we visited him often unlike my Uncle Howard's family.) We drove to the Oakland theater he managed one afternoon, probably not long before he died, and my dad went in to talk. Grandpa came out to greet everyone and asked me to roll down the window. He reached in, grabbed the hair on my arm, and twisted it. He thought it was good fun. Dad later told me that he regularly did that to him when he was a kid. The only other thing I recall about that encounter is that we were in Dad's beloved Studebaker. And I do have a vague recollection of being in the theater once. Certainly, I would have seen him then but I don't recall it.

The second occasion was at his home. He offered my younger sister and I (probably 5 and 7, respectively) a small glass of beer each. My dad mildly protested and I declined. (Or I tried it and didn't like it. I don't remember which.) Lonnie, however, quickly downed it and asked for more. Grandpa was ready to pour it but Dad strongly protested. I rolled my eyes at Lonnie's request; everyone else thought it was amusing. But that incident, if you knew Lonnie, was an important foreshadowing of her life to come.

There are only a few related things I recall: The drive to his home was so hilly that I later believed he lived in San Francisco rathee than Oakland, and he had a cat ramp that went from a window to the ground. I also remember the bicycle he bought for my 7th birthday. Dad helped me up and pushed me along. I didn't know what to do — how the steer it — and ran into the neighbor's car. The man, Mr Anderson, darted out of the house and yelled at me. A grumpy man, I guess.

Mom's parents, grandmother, and others moved to Long Beach some years earlier. After grandpa's death, she wanted to be near her family. We moved, I believe, that summer (1958). I vaguely recall grandpa's second wife. If we hadn't gone south she certainly would have been an affectionate Grandma Cooley, but I never saw her again. But the alternative was highly desirable. Hugh, Birdie, and Uncle Ron became enormously influential in my life.

I wrote a highly personal essay for a class in 2007 which riffed off McCabe's death, The Square Hole. (I warn readers that it's not to every one's taste.) And I wrote the following essay about the brothers' experience during the Great War for a World War I history class at HSU: Following the Cooley Brothers into the Meuse-Argonne: Life and death Among the 140th Regiment.

Jack's Biographical Sketch For McCabe Cooley

My father, Jack Cooley, wrote this for an article on USGenNet. I've corrected several typographical errors.

My father McCabe told me when I was [a] young man that he preferred the big city life rather than the small country farm life, and as I can recall he rather liked Paris France. He must have spent some time there during WW I. Shortly after WW I he moved to San Francisco California, and found employment in a men's clothing store as a salesman. He met my mother Marie Hennequin in San Francisco, and was married there on April 4, 1920. They had two boys, Howard McCabe, and Allison Claude "Jack" Cooley. McCabe had a very good personality, and a good sense of humor. In his younger days he did a lot of deer hunting and fishing for striped bass in the Bay Area. The last fifteen years of his life he was employed as a theater manager in several different theaters in Oakland, California. At the age of 58 January 7, 1958 he passed away from a heart attack, his fourth one. His doctor said that the first one should have taken him, but that he had such a strong desire to live that he would not give up, and worked to the end.

Obituaries for McCabe Cooley

New Fruitvale Theater
Oakland, California
ca. 1942

The following obituaries were contributed by J G Italiano. I suspect the first one was printed in a Kansas City newspaper and the second is likely from an Oakland paper, possibly the Tribune. McCabe would have turned 58 the previous November, not 59 as stated in both obituaries.

Additional remembrances of McCabe can be found at Cinema Treasures.

McCabe Cooley

McCabe Cooley passed away at his home in Oakland, Cailf., Jan. 7, 1958, at the age of 59 years, 2 months.

McCabe is the son of the late Joseph W. Cooley of Lucerne, Mo. He is survived by his wife, Lilas Lee Cooley, two sons, Howard and Allison Cooley and seven grandchildren. He is also survived by a brother, Claude Cooley of Seymour Iowa, and a sister, Mrs. Ora Shelton of Kansas City, Mo.

McCabe was born and raised in Lucerne, Mo., and moved to California after World War I.

He was happy to meet friends and relatives and acquaintances in Lucerne three years ago while visiting Missouri and expressed a great deal of delight in the visit.

He had been in ill health for a few years and leaves with us all a loving memory.

Theater Man Dies En Route To Home

McCabe Cooley, 59, manager of the Fruitvale Theater, died of heart attack early today as he attempted to question a man he apparently believed to be loitering near his home.

The cause of Cooley's death was determined by a corner's [sic] autopsy this morning as police sought a mystery man who roared away in a car immediately after Cooley collapsed on a lawn in front of 2417 Montana St.

For a time, police thought Cooley might have been the victim of a robbery attack that caused a fatal heart seizure. Cooley had a long history of heart trouble.

The license number of the mystery man's car was supplied by Mrs. Dora Dana, 45, of the Montana St. address, who told police she saw that what she believed to be a fight between Cooley and the attacker.

The car's owner, however, a 28-year-old teamster, told officers that Cooley approached him as he parked his car near his home and seemed to say something and then collapsed. The teamster told officers he grabbed Cooley and helped him to the lawn and then fled in panic, because he had been drinking. He was released.

Six youths seized at the scene when they cruised by acting suspiciously were still being held for questioning today, since a loaded .22 caliber pistol was found in the possession of one of them.

Cooley, who lived at 3321 Flagg St., was employed by the firm which owns Fruitvale Theater for almost 20 years. He is survived by his wife, Lilas.

Cooley's fatal heart attack occurred as he was returning home after locking up the theater shortly after midnight.

COOLEY, McCabe, in Oakland January 7 1958. Beloved husband of Lilas Lee Cooley, loving father of Howard and Allison Cooley, brother of Claude Cooley of Iowa and Mrs. Vernal Shelton of Missouri. A native of Lucerne, Missouri, aged 58 years. A member of the Fruitvale Presbyterian Church, Emeryville; Industrial Post No. 1010 V.F.W., and East Oakland Aerie No. 1375 F.O.E.

Friends are respectfully invited to attend funeral service Friday, January 10 at 3 p.m. at the Fruitvale Chapel of the Clarence N. Cooper Mortuaries, 1580 Fruitvale Avenue, Oakland. (Phone KEllog 3-4114.) Parking areas adjacent to chapel. Memorial contributions to the Fruitvale Presbyterian Church memorial fund will be greatly appreciated.