Dr. Frederick Morton Cooley, 91, went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Friday, April 26, 2024, after dying of congestive heart failure. Fred was born in Charleston, WV, on March 6, 1933.
After graduating from Nitro High School in 1951, he joined the United States Air Force, serving as a preventative medicine specialist during the Korean War as a Staff Sergeant, until he was honorably discharged in 1955. He then entered the Pre-Med undergraduate program at West Virginia University, where he earned his Bachelor of Arts Degree in 1959, and then continued on to be a member of the first graduating class of the WVU Medical School in 1962.
After receiving his medical degree in Family Practice, he went into private practice and then joined the Charleston Medical Group, continuing there until 1970. He was then hired by the Charleston Area Medical Center, where four years later he became the president of the CAMC Emergency Department. In 1975, he was appointed by Governor Arch Moore to the position of Medical Director for the Office of Emergency Medical Services for the state of West Virginia. Fred was also a WV Department of Health Consultant, which involved traveling to various parts of WV to instruct others on how to set up emergency rooms and how to apply for federal grants to gain much needed medical equipment. He was an innovator in the EMS organization by developing the regulation and operations manual for EMS offices, developing a state EMS communications plan, and preparing the equipment specifications for the statewide system. He began the EMT Mine Training program, began the EMT-Paramedic and Trauma Nurse training, developed the Trauma Center Designation rules and regulations, helped to develop the WV Hypertension Control Program, helped start the Black Lung Clinics Program, and was instrumental in beginning the Medevac Helicopter Program for West Virginia.
Fred was a champion for those in need, as was evidenced by his becoming the Medical Advisor for the Health Organization Development Project in Southern WV from 1980-1982. He also served as a Center Physician at the Charleston Job Corps Center from 1965-1985 and was also a practicing physician at Doctor’s Urgent Care in Charleston from 1983-1986.
In addition, he served as a Clinical Associate Professor for both the WVU and Marshall Schools of Medicine.
Fred was also a licensed Electronics Engineer, and enjoyed building television sets, computers, intercom and security systems and more in his spare time. He also earned his Real Estate License, dabbling in repairing older homes to make them suitable for selling.
As if all the aforementioned were not enough, Fred loved playing golf and tennis, and won many Public Courts Championships with his 4.0 ranking. He was known for his booming serve and doubles play with his friends and partners Dr. Danny Taylor and Don Tate.
Even though Fred had many titles, the greatest one of them all was “Born Again Christian” after asking Jesus to be his Savior. He was a loving husband who cared for his wife Peggy as long as he was physically able, while she suffered from Alzheimer’s Disease.
He was the “best daddy in the whole wide world” who showed much love and care for his three daughters and their families. We are so very thankful that the Lord blessed us with the greatest parents in the world.
Perhaps one of the greatest comforts to his daughters over the past few days has been the overwhelming outpouring of love and appreciation that so many who knew him in his later years have expressed. He touched the lives of so many, especially ours. It gives us immeasurable joy to know that not only is he with his Savior, but that he is reunited with our momma once again.
Fred was preceded in death by his wife Peggy Joyce Cooley, his father Cecil Cooley, and his mother Wanda Morton Cooley. He is survived by his three loving daughters, Lauren Monk (Mike), Heather Ritchey, and Kerri Milgram (Craig); six grandchildren: Katie Cumberledge (Steven), RJ Ritchey, Dr. Micah Monk, Christopher Milgram, Cassidy Redden, and Cade Flanagan, as well as seven great grandchildren, his brother Charles Jennings Cooley of Charlotte, NC, and sister Marion Haye of Bluefield, WV, and several nieces and nephews.
We would like to especially thank the second-floor staff at Harmony at Southridge, who cared for and loved our Daddy in the last few months of his life. The recounting of their interactions and love for him gives us great comfort.
No service will be held.
Prayers for the Cooley family from the family of Dr. Dan Taylor
I’ll always have fond memories of Uncle Fred and the family reunions we would have out in Blake’s Creek. He supported our family in medical crises and was always living and kind. My deepest condolences.