'A precious heart': Family, friends remember K.C. Cooper

May 10—FULTON — During his full but shortened 31 years of life, Leonard Kirk "K.C." Cooper Jr. touched many people around Northeast Mississippi.

Friends and family described Cooper as a talented, caring person who liked to have fun and help friends. While he might have been salty, friends also say he was the salt of the earth.

His life was cut short in mid-April following a fatal altercation outside of a west Tupelo restaurant. One man, Timothy Turner, has been charged in connection with Cooper's death.

Instead of seeing him as the victim of a brutal crime, friends and family choose to remember "K.C." Cooper as a man who loved life, his art, his friends and never met a stranger.

'He was the kind you could depend on'

Russ Houston and Cooper grew up together, starting in the same daycare. They played baseball together, from little league through high school.

"He was the kind of friend I could call at 2 a.m. from Texas and say I had a flat and needed help," Houston said. "He would say it might take me 9 hours, but I'm on my way. He was the kind you could depend on."

After graduating from Itawamba Agricultural High School in 2009, Cooper traveled to Wyoming to attend Wyotech Trade School to learn auto collision repair and refinishing.

"He looked at vehicles as art. He was truly an artist," Houston said. "He was good with his hands; he was good with a needle and thread and could do interiors. He could work on engines if he wanted to."

Houston remembers working on four-wheelers and motorcycles with Cooper, trying to coax more performance out of them. But Cooper's artistic talents were not limited to wheeled vehicles. He was a talented artist and even dabbled with tattooing.

"He was good at tattooing, but it didn't last long," Houston said. "He figured ink on a person is a little more permanent than paint on a car."

Mikah Beth Deaton attended high school with Cooper. Since they were close friends and both had red hair, many people mistakenly believed they were related.

In some ways, they were. Just not by blood.

"He was like my brother," Deaton said. "You could call him anytime and he would be there."

In high school, he put a stereo in her car. She still remembers rolling up to campus the following day.

"When I pulled up at school, the windows were rattling, and I was so proud," Deaton said. "My father said I better hope the car doesn't catch on fire."

Although he was a freewheeling artist who loved to ride four-wheelers and go mud riding, Cooper had his neat side — ultra neat at times.

Deaton said he could be a little obsessive-compulsive about his tools.

"Everything had a spot," she said.

'He had a precious heart'

Cooper's girlfriend, Lisa Benson, said they met about a year ago while attending a get-together with mutual friends. She quickly became enamored with him.

"He was a go-getter and wanted to do something every day," Benson said. "He could stay in the shop for hours on end. He would not sit down until 10 o'clock at night."

He always had a project going at their house, even if it was something as simple as putting shelves in the pantry or her closet.

"He was very caring," Benson said. "He didn't want to disappoint anyone, even folks who were hard to please."

While he stayed active at nearly all times, Benson said there were a handful of things that would allow him to slow down — including fishing and hunting. And of course, family.

"The only time he would sit still was Sunday nights," said mother, Madonna Steele.

That's when Steele said Cooper, Benson and her 9-year-old daughter would come over and just hang out.

"I would cook supper and we would all watch 'Yellowstone,'" Steele said.

Cousin and fifth grade reading teacher Stephanie Byrd called Cooper a "genuine" person.

"You didn't have to wonder what he thought; he would tell you," Byrd said. "I remember K.C. as a little bitty child taking up for others."

Another teacher, Susan Sheffield, remembered seeing Cooper in the school hall taking the blame (and sometimes a paddling) for something he didn't do, just to protect others.

"He had a precious heart and would do anything for anybody," she said. "People say that all the time about folks, but with K.C., it was true."

Not that he didn't have his rough side.

"Sometimes, you wanted to strangle him, but that was part of growing up," Sheffield said.

Sheffield also tutored Cooper in 12th grade and watched the young man mature over his senior year.

"At graduation, he was in line, and he was genuinely appreciative of the teachers who had helped him and was thanking us," Sheffield said. "He knew he wasn't the easiest to deal with all the time."

Even though he was always active and on the move, his mother said Cooper had one bad habit.

"He was always late," Steele said.

When the family learned delays in the autopsy at the state medical examiner's office could delay the funeral up to two weeks, Cooper's family was unsurprised.

"He was literally a week late to his own funeral," Steele said with a grin.

Byrd laughed.

"That's K.C.," she said.

william.moore@djournal.com