Odessa Cooper Waldrop 

Odessa Cooper Waldrop, 85, died Wednesday, December 13, 2006, at her home. 
Visitation is 5-7 p.m. today at Welch Funeral Home in Starkville.
 Services are 2 p.m. Saturday at Welch Funeral Home. Rev. Chip Stevens 
and Bro. Clifton Curtis will officiate.

She was born July 5, 1921, in Webster County. She graduated from Spring 
Hill High School and attended Moorehead Junior College on a basketball 
scholarship before graduating with a B.S. from Delta State. After World 
War II she and her husband, D.D. Waldrop, Sr. resided in Drew where she 
was a school teacher and he a cotton farmer. They purchased a dairy farm 
and moved to Starkville in 1965. She received her masters and doctorate in 
guidance education from Mississippi State University in 1976. She was a 
member of the First Baptist Church of Starkville.

She is survived by her husband, D.D. Waldrop, Sr.; three sons, Dudley 
Waldrop and friend Pam Warnken, Rodney Waldrop and wife Sandra, D. D. 
Waldrop, Jr. and wife Denise, all of Starkville; sisters, Nancy Cooper of 
Memphis, Tenn., and Jamie Pittman of Calhoun City. She is preceded in death 
by her parents, Conneus S. Cooper and Wilma Stewart Cooper of Duck Hill; 
sisters, Rena Mae Williams of Lambert, Lillie Bee Chambers of 
Indianapolis, Ind.; and brother, Earl Cooper of Brooksville. Her grandchildren 
are Banks Waldrop of Norfolk, Va., Reed Waldrop of Starkville and Sara 
Waldrop of Starkville, Rachel Waldrop of Marietta, Ga., Marla Waldrop of 
Starkville, Amy Smith of Starkville.

Pallbearers will be Banks Waldrop, Reed Waldrop, Harry Bell IV, Marion 
Booth, Blake Garrard, and George Hern.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to First Baptist Church Building Fund.