Leona Violet Cooper Mayfield

Leona Violet Cooper Mayfield, 98, widow of Howard Mayfield, Sr., passed away January 9, 2023 in Santa Barbara, California. She was born to the late Willard Burt Cooper and Lydia Perkins Cooper on August 22, 1924 in Lost City (Cherokee County), Oklahoma. Raised in the Church of Christ tradition, she was a life-long follower of Jesus and former member of Anchor Baptist Church, Lexington.

Leona (nicknamed Peggy by her family) worked hard on the family farm during World War II, running beef cattle and bearing the brunt of other heavy outdoor work.  She married Howard (H.G.) on November 28, 1946, moving with him to California, Washington, French Morocco, western New York, West Virginia, North Carolina, and Kentucky.   

Leona had a gift for teaching small children, leading the Toddler Sunday School class and church nursery at Highland Avenue Baptist Church in South Charleston, West Virginia, for twenty years.  She had a heart for the outsider and underdog. She sat with a child dying from leukemia so that her mother could rest.  She offered milk, cookies, and conversation to a young neighbor with cerebral palsy.  In later years, she joined her husband in ministries to nursing homes and homeless shelters in three states. 

Leona loved to be outdoors and active.  She was busy gardening, feeding backyard birds, and cultivating a beautiful, tidy, and clean home until her husband died in 2013.  Complications from dementia led to her living in a skilled nursing facility in Santa Barbara, where she found peace and community for the last eight years of her life.    

Leona is survived by her two children, Howard Mayfield, Jr. of Berea, Kentucky and Jana Mayfield (Andrew) Mullen of Santa Barbara, California; two grandchildren, Phoebe Janelle Mullen and Frances Lydia Mullen; one brother-in-law, Manuel Retamoza; and numerous nieces, nephews, and extended family members. In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by seven brothers and two sisters.

All services will be held on Monday, January 23^rd: visitation at 11 a.m. and funeral at 11:30 am at Wallaceton Baptist Church, Paint Lick, Kentucky; graveside committal service at 1:30 p.m. at Camp Nelson National Cemetery, Nicholasville, Kentucky. Church address: 3121 Guynn Road, Paint Lick, Kentucky 40461

In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the Wallaceton Baptist Church Benevolent Fund, 4065 Moran Summit Road, Paint Lick, Kentucky 40461.