Erin Rhoten joined in a birthday party parade Friday to celebrate Merlie Reeves’ 90th birthday on Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Merlie Reeves’ calls out to friends and relatives driving by her Salem home on Friday, May 1, to celebrate her 90th birthday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Christie O’Brien tugs on the hood of her mother’s jacket when Merlie Reeves got a bit too close to a birthday celebration parade Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A parade participant gives the “thumbs up” from the sun roof of a car during a birthday drive by parade Friday, May 1, in Salem to honor Merlie Reeves on her 90th birthday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Alex rests his head while joining his owners Susie and Dick Francois in a birthday celebration parade Friday, May 1, in Salem to honor Merlie Reeves. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Merlie Reeves enjoys a parade past her home on Friday, May 1, to help her celebrate her 90th birthday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Signs and balloons decorated a drive-by parade to celebrate Merlie Reeves’ 90th birthday on Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Jan Margosian joins a long line of cars in a birthday parade Friday, May 1, to honor Merlie Reeves. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Merlie Reeves salutes friends and relatives driving past her Salem home Friday, May 1, in a parade to celebrate Rhoten’s 90thbirthday. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A Salem Police Department escort leads long line of cars in a parade in south Salem to celebrate Merlie Reeves’ 90th birthday Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
Friends and relatives gather for a drive-by parade to celebrate Merlie Reeves’ 90th birthday on Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
A long line of cars awaits the start of a parade to celebrate Merlie Reeves’ 90th birthday Friday, May 1. (Ron Cooper/Salem Reporter)
CORRECTION: The birthday celebrant is Merlie Rhoten Reeves. Her last name was incorrectly listed as Rhoten in the captions. Salem Reporter apologizes for the error.
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Photographer Ron Cooper and his wife Penny moved to Salem in 1969 to take a job as photographer at the Oregon Statesman (later the Statesman Journal). Their three children, Monica, Kimberly, and Christopher, attended and graduated from Salem public schools. Cooper retired from the Statesman Journal in 2001 but, has continued his passion for photography in many ways, including as a photographer for the Salem Reporter.
