Buford L Copeland

Funeral Services will be at 2:00 p.m. Saturday, March 26, 2016 at Collier-Butler Chapel for Buford L. Copeland, 97, of Gadsden, who passed away Friday, March 25, 2016. Rev. Levan Parker and Rev. Harvey Beck will officiate. Private burial will follow at Lee Family Cemetery. Collier-Butler Funeral and Cremation Services is directing.

Mr. Copeland was a 1936 graduate of Etowah High School and a 1942 graduate of the University of Alabama Law School. He was a member of East Gadsden Baptist Church for 70 years where he taught the men’s Sunday school class. Mr. Copeland served as a civilian flight instructor in 1944 as a pilot in the Air Force Transport Command, in the South Pacific. Mr. Copeland returned to Gadsden and opened the law practice known as Copeland and Copeland in 1951, where he practiced law until his retirement in 1995. He also served on the Board of Trustees at Gadsden Regional Medical Center.

He was preceded in death by his wife, Doris Ruth Stovall Copeland; brother, Ira Gray; and parents, Mr. and Mrs. M.W. Copeland.

Mr. Copeland is survived by his children, Recee (Larry) Bledsoe, Anita (Roger) Laney, and Keith (Susan) Copeland; grandchildren, Kristy (Tony) LaRue, Holly (Merril) Guice; Matthew (Julie) Laney, and Megan Laney; great-grandchildren, Hannah, Rebecca and Madison LaRue, Caleb, Laura Grace, Benjamin and Isabel Guice, and Sophie and Emma Laney; siblings, Wayne Copeland, Melba Jane Bailey and June McCurley; and niece, Janice (Art) Middleton.

Pallbearers will be Matthew Laney, Tony LaRue, Merril Guice, Caleb Guice, Larry Bledsoe and Roger Laney.

Honorary pallbearers will be Hubert Owen, Wayne Owen and Phillip Owen.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to East Gadsden Baptist Church or Alzheimer’s Association.

Special thank you to Gentiva Hospice, Crystal Henson, Verline Hampton, Faye Payne, Angie Currie, Rebecca Patterson and Chaplain Richard Bradford.

The family will receive friends from 1-2 p.m. Saturday prior to the service at the funeral home.

Memorials may be made to the Lee Family Cemetery c/o Keith Copeland 820 Chestnut St., Gadsden AL 35901

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.collier-butler.com.