Gertrude Cooper

Gertrude Green Urquhart Cooper, who retired as a reading specialist in Baltimore elementary schools, died Saturday of cancer at her home on North Mount Street. She was 85.

Services for Mrs. Cooper will be held at noon Thursday at the Douglas Memorial Community Church, Lafayette and Madison avenues.

She retired in 1975 after teaching for 28 years.

Mrs. Cooper was a native of Trenton, N.J., who graduated from the Myrtilla Miner Normal School in Washington before starting her teaching career in Baltimore.

She earned a bachelor's degree from what is now Morgan State University and a master's degree through graduate study at Loyola College, Johns Hopkins University and New York University.

At Douglas Memorial Church, she was a member of We Are Not Alone, the Finance Board and the Mamie Douglas Circle.

Her first husband, Claude D. Urquhart, died in 1956.

She is survived by her husband, E. Bernard Cooper; a son, Claude D. Urquhart Jr. of the Lochearn area; a stepdaughter, Gloria Morton of Baltimore; two sisters, Charlotte Watson of New York City and Mildred Green of Trenton; a brother, Elkins Green of Trenton; three grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.