Wesley William Copeland

Wesley William Copeland, Jr. was one of five children whose parents were sharecroppers in South Texas. He worked his way through Texas State Teachers’ College, doing whatever work he could find, sometimes digging ditches. By 18, he was teaching math while going to school. He earned a degree an education. He joined the Navy during WWII where he met Janet Singer, a Wave and the daughter of a New York furrier. This unlikely pair was married for 65 years. He went on to earn a Master’s Degree from NYU. He was principal of Taft High School for 11 years. The family then moved to El Paso, where he was a principal of several schools. He was the principal who opened the “new” Morehead School. He was known for his passion for education, his fairness, his unending support of his staff, and his desire to care for anyone who walked through the door.

His enthusiasm for sports, hunting, horses, raising champion dogs, and being an enormous fan of anything that his children or grandchildren did, touched the lives of so many both inside and outside of his immediate family.

Wesley was born on October 18, 1915. He died in Austin, TX on January 24, 2011. In his 95 years, he touched the lives of family as a son, a brother, a husband, a father, a grandfather and a great-grandfather. He will be missed by his friends and by those many family members who have survived him including his wife Janet, his daughters Maureen Britton and husband Bill, their children Ryan Britton and wife Nicola, Kelsey Davies and husband James; Cathy Birkelbach, her children Zack and wife Haley, Lara Cassidy and husband Chris, and Grayson; Ellen Lott and husband Sam, their children Jeremy, Allison Gilbert and husband Gary, Sharon, and Jordon; sons, Clay Copeland and wife Debra, their son Christopher, and Kevin Copeland and wife Eleanor and children Carrie, Courtney and Joy. Also, surviving is his sister, Sarah Hoover. And, Bop Bop will be missed by his 11 great-grandchildren.

Services will be held on Thursday, February 10th at 10:30 am at St. Francis on the Hill Episcopal Church at 6280 Los Robles to celebrate this incredible life.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to a fund being established in his name to benefit education through the El Paso Community Foundation, P.O. Box 272, El Paso, TX (79943) or at www.epcf.org.

Due to illness in the family the Funeral Services scheduled for Thursday, February 10th have been postponed. Rescheduled services will be announced as soon as possible.