Andrea Ball Copeland

Andrea was immensely proud of her southern Huguenot heritage. She was born in Greenville, SC, where in the early 1700s her French ancestors were among the founders in Charleston of the Huguenot Society of South Carolina. The old Ball family church and cemetery near there is still cared for and used by relatives. She grew up in Jacksonville, Florida, where she met and married Richard (Dick) Copeland in 1964, a young Naval Lieutenant stationed at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, thereby starting her first career, a naval officer's wife and young mother.

After Dick's completion of his military service, he became an Episcopal priest, with Andrea becoming through the years the consummate minister's wife with a life devoted to God and service to others. In the years of their marriage, including during their ministry, she worked full time, forging her own career path as an executive assistant. In Panama City, Florida, she created and organized, without previous experience, a JCAHO accreditation for a hospital that resulted in a perfect score.

Always a feisty woman with an endless well of compassion, courage, creativity, and curiosity about people, Andrea was most proud of her personal accomplishment of returning to school after age 50, earning her Bachelor's degree at Texas Women's University and her Master's of Social Work degree from the University of Texas-Arlington, with further certification as Clinical Social Worker. She established her sliding scale practice within the church setting for those who were unable to afford counseling, and often charged only $5 in order to help those who needed it most. She also served as a Spiritual Director, led workshops in marriage, grief, family relations, and dreams, and worked within the medical field providing social work for patients. After Dick's retirement and their move to San Antonio, Andrea trained chaplains for hospital ministry. Always an avid reader, her retirement gave her time to develop her writing. She attended the prestigious Iowa Writers Workshop in later years and became a published author.

Andrea's abiding joy was her family. She delighted in them, and they thrived in her unconditional love and her wonderful and often irreverent sense of humor. She modeled for them her strong sense of justice for all and especially her advocacy of fairness for women.

Andrea was preceded in death by her parents, George Bell Ball and Irma Fiske Ball, and her beloved grandmother, May Ball, of Jacksonville, Florida. She is survived by Dick, her husband of 54 adventurous years; sons, Hill Ball Copeland and his wife Leslie, of Redwing, MN, and Christopher Michael Copeland and his wife Stephanie, of Greenwich, NY. Grandchildren are Zach and his wife Dahlia, Andrea (Andie) and her husband Brett, George (Geep), Sarah, Tanner, Zoey, Kate, and Scout, and great-grandson, Jett. Andrea is also survived by her brother, George (Scott) Bell Ball, Jr. and his wife Barbara, of Rochester NY, and nieces, Ashley and Courtney, also of NY.

Services will be Tuesday, June 27 at 1:00pm at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, 1416 North Loop 1604 East, San Antonio. Interment will immediately follow the service at the church. Reception will follow at the Club House of Independence Village, 20550 Huebner Road.

The family requests that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Pulmonary Fibrosis Foundation, (https://pulmonaryfibrosis.donorpages.com/Tribute/AndreaCopeland/ ) or a charity of your choice.