Yvette Cooper Cleveland

Yvette Cooper Cleveland, wife of the late Rev. Coley Livingston Cleveland, entered eternal rest June 28, 2022, at age 95.  She is survived by her two sons, Dale C. Cleveland (Joyce) and David C. Cleveland (Caroline), and by her granddaughter, Jennifer D. Cleveland.

Born Dula Yvette Cooper on September 28, 1926, Yvette was a child of the Great Depression and was instilled with a strong sense of the value of working hard and being grateful for what she had.  She graduated from Welcome High School in 1944 and went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Religion from the Furman University Women’s College in 1950. She had envisioned doing missionary work, but that plan changed when she met and married the love of her life, Coley Cleveland, in 1959. Asked what she did throughout her life she would smile and say, “I was a preacher’s wife.”

Yvette taught elementary students for over twenty years, with her last school being West End Elementary School in Easley, S.C.  After her retirement from teaching, Yvette selflessly volunteered for countless hours of service at Baptist Easley Hospital. She was a dedicated and active member of First Baptist Church in Easley and, previously, of Friendship Baptist in Barnwell, S.C., where Rev. Cleveland served as Pastor prior to his retirement. She had an unshakable faith in God and strove to live her life to serve him.

Though she loved her work teaching and volunteering, she was quick to tell anyone who asked – and anyone who didn’t – that her life’s work was raising her beloved sons Dale and David and playing an active role in her precious granddaughter Jennifer’s life. She cherished her time with her children and treasured the many mementos she kept of their childhood milestones and accomplishments.

Special thanks to Wellmore of Daniel Island, S.C. and The Willows of Easley, S.C. and the many people working there who so lovingly cared for Yvette in the later years of her life.

Funeral services will be held at 1:30 PM Friday, July 1, 2022, in the mausoleum at Hillcrest Memorial Park in Pickens, S.C. with a receiving of friends prior to the service beginning at 12:30 PM. In lieu of flowers, anyone wishing to honor Yvette’s memory could make her happy by giving to the church or charity of their choice.

Visit RobinsonFuneralHomes.com or Robinson Funeral Home & Crematory-Downtown, Easley.