Deborah J. Cooper, Lebanon

Deborah Jones Cooper, 52, a member of the law firm Daschbach, Cooper, Hotchkiss and Csatari, P.A., from 1983 until 2004, died November 2 at her home in Lebanon after a battle with cancer. Cooper served as an assistant Attorney General of New Hampshire from 1978 to 1981, and was Deputy Attorney General from 1981 to 1983, the youngest person—and the first woman—to hold that position. She was a graduate of Wellesley College and Boston University Law School and joined the NH Bar in 1976. She was remembered by colleagues as an accomplished attorney and a valued friend.

"We were surprised and delighted that she chose to…devote her considerable talents and energy to what was then a fairly typical small-town practice," said Joe Daschbach about Cooper’s decision to leave the Attorney General’s office. "But her priorities were clear. The well being of her family came first and practicing law within walking distance of her Lebanon home she believed would be more conducive to happy family life than a long commute to a more high-profile position. For the same reason she later twice declined invitations to be appointed to the Superior Court bench."

Always very much involved in the life of her community and state, Debbie Cooper worked on a number of boards and committees, civic, religious and charitable. She served on the board of directors of the Lebanon Opera House for eight years and sat on the boards of both the National Bank of Lebanon and the First New Hampshire Bank. She actively participated as a member of the NH Bar Association, sitting on the Ethics and Legislative committees, among others.

As her firm’s practice changed over the years, Debbie became its complex civil litigation mainstay. "She also briefed and argued most of the firm’s cases on appeal," said Daschbach. "In recent years, after she had been successfully treated for leukemia, she shifted her focus to estate planning and probate administration, where she also, not surprisingly, excelled."

Debbie enjoyed skiing, sailing, reading and traveling, but her greatest joy was found in her family and friends—and in her faith. She loved people and made time in her life and in her heart for anyone who turned to her. According to a story in the Concord Monitor of Nov. 8, Cooper’s home was frequently filled with friends of her two college-age children; the "Cooper Restaurant" was open day and night and Debbie was always ready to listen to problems and to offer help.

"She was a pillar in this community, both personally and in the legal community," said District Court Judge Albert Cirone, Jr. Cirone and his wife did not have family in the area and considered themselves "very fortunate" to be part of the Cooper family. Debbie and her husband were both lecterns at Sacred Heart Church and were involved in counseling couples who intended to marry at the church, said the Cirones.

Both the Concord Monitor story and WMUR Channel 9 News (November 7) told of Debbie’s last wish—to be able to vote in the November 2nd election. She was not really well enough to leave her home—although she told her husband Jay, as a last resort, to put her in the wheelchair, get the oxygen tank and take her to the polls. She had returned from her latest hospital stay after the deadline for absentee ballots, but knowing how weak she was and how intense her desire to vote, a neighbor (and state representative) Terri Dudley and Lebanon City Clerk Sandi Allard contacted the Secretary of State’s office. Allard was given permission to deputize someone to deliver the absentee ballot to Debbie’s home.

Denise McLeod, Claremont District Court clerk was deputized and delivered the ballot to the Cooper home on Tuesday morning. "Everyone scrambled to find a way for Debbie to vote…because that was the most important thing she wanted to do on the last day of her life," said Lebanon Mayor Cliff Desrosiers.

Debbie Cooper died 12 hours after casting that vote, without knowing the results of Tuesday’s election—but she had been granted her last wish.

Concluded Daschbach: "We have lost one of the finest lawyers I have been privileged to know and more than that, we have lost a person of unfailing good humor and irresistible kindness."

Debbie leaves her husband of 30 years, Jay, and her children Thomas and Elizabeth; her brother David Jones; brothers- and sisters-in-law and many nieces and nephews. She was predeceased by another brother, Douglas, and her father and grandfather, all attorneys—and by her mother.

Said Marty Van Oot, former president of the NHBA: "Debbie was a wonderful woman—a wonderful, mother, lawyer and friend; she touched so many lives, in so many ways—and stayed in touch. We were very lucky to have known her."

Robert Elliott, Manchester

Robert L. Elliott, 55, of Manchester, died unexpectedly on Oct. 16 at Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center in Lebanon. Elliott was a respected solo practitioner with a general practice, although he devoted special attention to workers’ compensation and disabilities rights cases.

He was a graduate of Suffolk University School of Law and was admitted to the New Hampshire Bar Association in 1975. Paul R. Kfoury, Sr. of Wiggin & Nourie, Manchester, said of his colleague: "Some of us had the honor of knowing Bob and working with him. He loved his work. He was an honorable man and a most civil lawyer at all times in all of his dealings with members of the Bar, the Bench and the public."

Elliott was also known for his golfing ability. He won the NH state amateur title in both 1969 and 1972. Among his other golf championships were the Manchester Country Club in 1976 and 1990 and City Champion in 1970 and 1972. He was inducted into the Queen City Athletic Hall of Fame in June 2000.

Kfoury further commented: "Bob Elliott will be remembered as a true gentleman, an example of professionalism and civility we should all emulate."

Elliott leaves his wife of 33 years, Constance Allard Elliott; his daughters, Sarah Elliott and Laura Elliott Johnson and her husband Derek; his mother Pauline; and a granddaughter, Grace Johnson. Family members also include three sisters and several nieces and nephews.

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