JACKSONVILLE, Fla. \u2013 George Cooper Jr. was supposed to be moving back to Jacksonville. Instead, his family was left planning his funeral.<\/p>\n
The 24-year-old Florida State University graduate died in a wrong-way crash on Interstate 10 in Madison County, near Tallahassee, early Saturday morning. Investigators said Cooper was driving east when a 34-year-old woman from Orange Park crossed into oncoming traffic. Neither driver survived.<\/p>\n
His mother, Randral Cash, said the call came Saturday morning around 3:45 a.m.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was the worst phone call of me and his dad\u2019s life,\u201d Cash said.<\/p>\n
Cooper, a computer science graduate who attended First Coast High School in Jacksonville, was known by family as \u201cB-G.\u201d His mother and grandmother, Belinda Fowler, said they saw something extraordinary in him from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe must\u2019ve been about one,\u201d Fowler recalled. \u201cAnd he handed me his bottle. \u2018Grandma, don\u2019t cry, here\u2019s my bottle.\u2019 He was about one year old.\u201d<\/p>\n
His academic drive showed itself early, too. Cash said Cooper entered a science fair on his own initiative \u2014 and took home the winning prize.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe was so smart,\u201d Cash said. \u201cHe did his first science project there because none of us did science. He wanted to do a science fair. He won first place. We\u2019re like, okay! You\u2019re that guy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Florida Highway Patrol has not released a cause for why the Orange Park woman was traveling the wrong way on I-10. Cash said she believed the woman was not in her right mind.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t know how she could have been driving the wrong way on I-10 without not being in her right mind,\u201d Cash said. \u201cI just don\u2019t understand how someone could drive 10 miles.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fowler was calling on the Florida Department of Transportation to add flashing lights to wrong-way warning signs on highway ramps.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou know how the ramps have signs that say wrong way,\u201d Fowler said. \u201cI wish DOT would put up flashers. Maybe that would have caught her attention.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cooper\u2019s family said the outpouring of support from Jacksonville has been overwhelming. So many friends wanted to attend services that the family had to find a larger venue.<\/p>\n
Funeral services for George Cooper Jr. are scheduled for June 20 at Mt. Vernon Baptist Church on Prince Street in Jacksonville.<\/p>\n
Cooper\u2019s family said they are grateful for the 24 years they had with him.<\/p>\n
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