Retirement of John M. Cooper on March 31 from the position of area director of the Bureau of Indian Affairs at Billings, Mont., was announced today by Commissioner Glenn L. Emmons.
In making the announcement Commissioner Emmons paid tribute to Mr. Cooper's record of service with the Bureau over the past 21 years. This included two years as area director at Billings, three years and six months in comparable positions at Aberdeen, S. Dak., and Anadarko, Oklahoma, and one as director of Indian Bureau participation in Missouri River Basin Investigations.
Prior to 1950 he had assignments as director of the Bureau's Southwest Range and Sheep Breeding Laboratory, Fort Wingate, N. Mex.; assistant superintendent of the Navajo Agency, Window Rock, Arizona; and superintendent of the Wind River Agency, Fort Washakie, Wyo. Before joining the Bureau, he worked with the United States Department of Agriculture for 14 years on sheep breeding and allied research programs, He was born in 1899 at Canyon, Texas, and is a graduate in animal husbandry from the University of California,
After March 31, Milton A. Johnson, who has been a member of the Billings staff for the past 13 years and assistant area director since 1954, will serve as acting area director until further notice
