Linda Kay Cooper was an American educator best known publicly as the first wife of legendary football coach and broadcaster Jimmy Johnson. She and Johnson were married for about 26 years and had two sons before separating in 1989. Cooper later remarried and lived largely outside the public spotlight.
Interest in Linda Kay Cooper continues because Johnson became one of the best-known coaches in American football, winning a national championship with the University of Miami and two Super Bowls with the Dallas Cowboys. Cooper, however, maintained a much more private life. Reliable records provide a useful outline of her story, but many details repeated on celebrity websites cannot be independently verified.
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Linda Kay Cooper was a retired American educator and the first wife of football coach Jimmy Johnson. Born January 17, 1942, in Marked Tree, Arkansas, she had two sons with Johnson. They separated in 1989, and their divorce was completed around 1990. Cooper later remarried and died in Fayetteville, Arkansas, on October 6, 2003.
Linda Kay Cooper Bio
| Fact | Verified Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Linda Kay Cooper |
| Born | January 17, 1942 |
| Birthplace | Marked Tree, Arkansas, United States |
| Died | October 6, 2003 |
| Age at Death | 61 |
| Occupation | Retired educator |
| First Husband | Jimmy Johnson |
| Later Husband | Roger Kent Aronson |
| Children | W. Brent Johnson and Chad J. Johnson |
| Parents | Reginald Taft Cooper and Martha Virginia (Dixon) Cooper |
| Known For | Jimmy Johnson’s first wife and an international educator |
The biographical details above are supported primarily by Cooper’s funeral-home obituary and its republication in The Dallas Morning News.
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Early Life of Linda Kay Cooper
Linda Kay Cooper was born on January 17, 1942, in Marked Tree, Arkansas. Her parents were Reginald Taft Cooper and Martha Virginia Dixon Cooper. Her obituary also names a sister, JoAnn Moody, and a brother, Teddy Neal Cooper.
Some online biographies say Cooper attended the University of Arkansas and met Jimmy Johnson there. A message preserved on her funeral home’s tribute wall does provide firsthand support for at least part of that story: an old friend wrote that she and Cooper attended the University of Arkansas together in the 1960s and had double-dated while Cooper was with Jimmy. However, a university record confirming Cooper’s degree, major, or graduation date was not located, so those details should not be treated as established facts.
Linda Kay Cooper’s Career as an Educator
Cooper’s professional life is one of the clearest facts preserved in her obituary. She was described as a “retired educator” who had taught in schools around the world. That record establishes that education was a genuine part of her own career rather than a detail created later by celebrity-biography websites.
Several secondary profiles specifically claim that she taught in Venezuela. That detail has been widely repeated, but her official obituary does not name Venezuela or identify any individual schools where she worked. For that reason, the safest description is that she taught internationally, while her exact employers and teaching locations remain publicly unconfirmed.
There is likewise no reliable public documentation of Cooper’s salary, estate value, or net worth. Specific financial figures published on unsourced biography sites should therefore be treated as speculation.
Jimmy Johnson and Linda Kay Cooper’s Marriage
Searches for Jimmy Johnson and Linda Kay Cooper mainly concern the couple’s long first marriage. Biographical references commonly give July 12, 1963, as their wedding date, and contemporary reporting later described the relationship as lasting about 26 years.
Their marriage covered much of Johnson’s rise through American football. He eventually became head coach at Oklahoma State, then led the Miami Hurricanes to the 1987 national championship before taking over the Dallas Cowboys in 1989. Johnson later won consecutive Super Bowls with Dallas and entered the Pro Football Hall of Fame as a member of the Class of 2020.
Cooper occasionally appeared in contemporary sports coverage because of that marriage. A 1985 Los Angeles Times article, for example, referred to “Linda Kay Johnson” as Jimmy Johnson’s wife and noted her friendship with Mary Lynn Majors, wife of coach Johnny Majors.
That historical reference also explains why searches for Linda Kay Cooper Johnson or Jimmy Johnson wife Linda Kay Cooper produce variations of her name. Her 2003 obituary, however, was published under Linda Kay Cooper.
When Did Jimmy Johnson and Linda Kay Cooper Divorce?
The Jimmy Johnson divorce Linda Kay Cooper date is more complicated than many online profiles suggest. Contemporary Associated Press reporting shows that the couple separated in June 1989 and that Linda, identified in court coverage as Linda Kay Johnson, filed for divorce that August. The reporting also shows that lawyers were working on a settlement later that year.
Most modern biographical databases say the divorce was finalized in January 1990. IMDb specifically lists January 17, 1990, which explains searches for Jimmy Johnson divorce Linda Kay Cooper 1990 and Jimmy Johnson divorce date Linda Kay Cooper. However, a publicly accessible court decree independently confirming January 17 was not located during this research.
The most accurate wording is therefore that Cooper and Johnson separated in 1989 and were divorced by around January 1990, while January 17 is a widely reported rather than independently verified court date.
A 1999 Associated Press report recalled that Johnson ended the marriage shortly after becoming Cowboys coach and quoted his unusually blunt public description of no longer needing the “social prop of a spouse.” Another biographical reference based on his autobiography says Johnson described the two as growing apart and having different interests. Neither source provides Cooper’s own detailed account of why the marriage ended, so assigning a single definitive cause would be misleading.
Linda Kay Cooper and Jimmy Johnson’s Children
Cooper and Johnson had two sons. Her obituary identifies them as W. Brent Johnson, who was living in Redwood City, California, in 2003, and Chad J. Johnson, who was living in Dallas. It also names a granddaughter, Lola Grace Johnson.
Readers should be cautious with websites that assign specific present-day careers to Brent or Chad Johnson without direct supporting evidence. Both are common names, and unrelated people can easily be mistaken for Johnson’s sons.
The firmly verified fact is that Jimmy Johnson’s first wife Linda Kay Cooper was the mother of his two sons, Brent and Chad.
Life After Her Divorce From Jimmy Johnson
Cooper eventually remarried. At the time of her death, her husband was Roger Kent Aronson, according to both her funeral-home obituary and The Dallas Morning News.
Aronson’s own 2021 obituary later referred to her as “Linda Kay Cooper Aronson” and stated that their marriage lasted three years. That record suggests their marriage took place relatively late in Cooper’s life, although the exact wedding date was not provided.
Cooper appears to have remained largely outside sports and entertainment media after her divorce. The surviving public record focuses much more on her work as an educator and her family than on celebrity appearances.
Rhonda Rookmaaker and Linda Kay Cooper
The names Rhonda Rookmaaker and Linda Kay Cooper often appear in the same searches because both were married to Jimmy Johnson at different points in his life. Cooper was his first wife, while Rookmaaker became his second wife years after the first marriage ended.
The Associated Press reported that Johnson met Rookmaaker in 1984 while he was coaching at Miami and she was working at a Coral Gables salon. Johnson and Rookmaaker married in the Florida Keys in July 1999.
This distinction is especially important when searching for Linda Kay Cooper pictures. Authenticated editorial photographs of Cooper are relatively scarce, and some online pages about her use photographs connected to Johnson’s later life. Cooper’s funeral-home memorial page includes an image associated directly with her obituary record, making the original memorial source a safer reference than loosely labeled image-search results.
Is Linda Kay Cooper Still Alive?
The answer to is Linda Kay Cooper still alive is no. She died on October 6, 2003, in Fayetteville, Arkansas, at age 61. Her obituary confirms that she had been born on January 17, 1942.
Her memorial service was scheduled for October 18, 2003, at St. Catherine’s at Bell Gable in Fayetteville. The obituary requested that memorial contributions be made to Washington Regional Hospice.
Searches for obituary Linda Kay Cooper Jimmy Johnson wife or Linda Kay Cooper Johnson obituary generally point toward this same 2003 death notice.
How Did Linda Kay Cooper Die?
For readers asking how did Linda Kay Cooper die, no reliable public source reviewed for this article states a specific cause of death. Her obituary confirms where and when she died but does not identify an illness or medical diagnosis.
The request for donations to Washington Regional Hospice should not be interpreted as proof of any particular disease. Hospice involvement alone cannot establish a person’s cause of death.
Therefore, claims online assigning Cooper a specific illness should be treated as unverified unless they are supported by a credible medical, family, or contemporaneous news source.
Linda Kay Cooper’s Legacy
Linda Kay Cooper is remembered publicly mainly through her connection to Jimmy Johnson, but the available evidence gives her a broader identity. She was an Arkansas native, a mother of two, a retired educator who worked internationally, and later the wife of Roger Kent Aronson.
Her life also demonstrates why celebrity-related biographies require careful sourcing. Details about her birth, teaching career, sons, later marriage, and death can be documented, while her precise educational history, personal finances, divorce settlement, and cause of death remain either uncertain or private.
That distinction offers the most accurate picture of Cooper: a person connected to one of football’s most celebrated coaches, but someone whose own life was spent largely away from the public spotlight.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who was Linda Kay Cooper?
Linda Kay Cooper was an American educator best known as Jimmy Johnson’s first wife. She was born in Arkansas in 1942 and had two sons with Johnson.
When did Jimmy Johnson and Linda Kay Cooper divorce?
They separated in 1989. The divorce is generally listed as finalized in January 1990, with January 17 widely reported by biographical databases, although that exact date was not independently confirmed through a public court decree.
Did Linda Kay Cooper and Jimmy Johnson have children?
Yes. They had two sons, W. Brent Johnson and Chad J. Johnson.
What was Linda Kay Cooper’s cause of death?
Her publicly available obituary does not disclose a cause of death. Any claim naming a specific illness remains unverified.
Who did Linda Kay Cooper marry after Jimmy Johnson?
She later married Roger Kent Aronson. Her 2003 obituary lists Aronson as her husband, and his later obituary described their marriage as lasting three years.
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