Justin Cooley remembered with a Memorial Scholarship

Justin Cooley, a 1989 graduate of Mountain View-Birch Tree Liberty High School, recently passed away after a long battle with cancer. His family and friends are honoring his memory with a memorial scholarship.

 

The memorial scholarship will be a $500 scholarship (two available). The scholarship was announced at the Friday, Aug. 30 season opener for the Liberty Eagles against the Strafford Indians. The Class of 1989 planted a memorial tree on the hill where a plaque honoring Cooley hangs nearby.

 

After graduation, Cooley went to Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Mo., where he was a member of the Kappa Alpha fraternity. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in wildlife conservation management in 1995. After a career in sales management, Cooley found his true calling as a certified wealth advisor with LPL Financial and Simmons Investment Services, serving the surrounding area communities of southwest Missouri.

 

Cooley was a sports enthusiast and a loyal fan to the Liberty Eagles, Dallas Cowboys, Mizzou Tigers, and St. Louis Cardinals. He was a passionate outdoorsman who loved fishing the Jacks Fork and the Eleven Point Rivers, as well as the Norfork Lake, and deer hunting in Arroll, Mo. with his friends and family.

 

Cooley served as a member of the Liberty Eagles Football Chain Gang, Liberty High School Booster Club, West Plains Sunrise Rotary Club, Greater Area West Plains, Mountain View, and Willow Springs Chambers of Commerce, and a member of Genesis Church-West Plains.