Retired Richmond pastor celebrates 100th birthday Pastor Margaret Cooper is celebrating her 100th Birthday on Saturday, Jan. 30, in Richmond, Virginia. (Source: Elfreda Anderson) By Hannah Eason | January 30, 2021 at 12:08 PM EST - Updated January 31 at 3:24 PM RICHMOND, Va. (WWBT) - A former Richmond pastor is spending the weekend celebrating her 100th birthday at Beaufont Rehabilitation Center. Pastor Margaret Williams Cooper was born on Jan. 30, 1921, in Wallace, North Carolina. She picked cotton and tobacco from the age of seven to 13, and moved to Virginia in 1935. In 1938, she married Deacon Van Cooper, and they later had three children. Cooper says she is especially proud of her children, 10 grandchildren, 23 great-grandchildren and 30 great-great-grandchildren.