03/30/2026
Before Women’s History Month comes to an end, I’d like to highlight my biological grandmother; a woman I never had the opportunity to meet.
Mabel Lee Cooper, better known as Shug, was the proud mother of Cynthia Cooper Duke (my mother) and Steven L. Harden (my Uncle). She gave my mother to her eldest sister (my grandmother) Eddye Lee Wright (who, due to an early childhood injury, could not bare children of her own) when she was only 7 months old. She was the 5th of 8 children, and the only one born in Darby Virginia. She was raised in Jenkins Kentucky (where my mother and uncle were born). She married and moved to Cincinnati Ohio and later moved to Detroit Michigan. There she became a licensed Evangelist & prophetess of the ministry. She was a very skilled musician (pianist and organist), singer, writer and composer of music, who sang at Dr. Mattie Moss Clark mother’s funeral (Mattie Juliet Walker) while Dr. Mattie Moss Clark accompanied her. As her granddaughter, who is often told im the most like her, I’d love to see and hear the footage. I’d give anything to hear her voice. My grandmother was hosted by the Clark Family, that week, as she was very close to the family; she and Dr. Mattie Moss Clark made very beautiful music together. To know that my grandmother wrote music, just like me (I’ve been writing since I was 10 years old) really warms my heart. I just wish I was afforded the opportunity to meet her. Unfortunately, my grandmother died of blood and bone cancer (another commonality we share) at just the tender age of 35 years old, when my mother was only 14 and my uncle 12. My grandmother was a fireball, and Im often compared to her by my mother and uncle, as I am a constant reminder to them of their mother. My mother often tells me that my grandmother NEVER acted sick and she often made jokes while going through, just like me; we are so much alike. My grandmother was an amazing woman of God whose life ended way too soon, but her legacy lives on in me and my family.
