Kevin Cooper died on June 11, 2022 in a kayaking accident during a friend’s birthday party. He was 14 years old.
Yet at this young age, he had already achieved more than many adults ever will in a long lifetime. Kevin Cooper was the adult in the room. He seems to have been born with a sense of responsibility, entrepreneurial ambition, and an intellectual and emotional capacity to create that was unparalleled in most children of his age.
When he was seven years old, he started his first business, breeding and selling rabbits. Two years later, he started to pay taxes, and he owned a farm as he reached the age of 10. For his 11th birthday, he bought himself a tractor. At 14, he had just published (under a pen name) his autobiography.
He was homeschooled and self-schooled, and taught himself about business by watching Warren Buffet videos on YouTube.
All the while, he also took care of his family. He was the only member of the family without disability. His father, a veteran, is in a wheelchair, his mother is partially blind, and his older brother is autistic. Kevin was striving to make life better and happier for them all.
In November of last year, he produced a video message, Daily Life of a Forgotten Veteran, explaining the challenges and his intention to raise enough money to build a house for his father and family that would allow his dad to move about in a wheelchair.
We pray that his family will continue to be nourished by the memories of optimism, courage, and strength that their son brought them throughout his remarkable life.
Links:
Kevin Cooper’s (writing as Cole Summers) autobiography Don’t Tell Me I Can’t: An Ambitious Homeschooler’s Journey
Twitter message “Some people don’t believe me” video
Article by Daryl Gibson in the Deseret News
Solari has donated to the GoFundMe page to help his family, which you can do here.
