James “Jim” Rogers Copeland, 90, a resident of Harrisonburg, Virginia, went to be with the Lord on Thursday, July 11, 2024, while visiting family in Peru, New York. Jim would often say, “This life is boot camp for eternity.”  He has now graduated from boot camp and is in heaven seeing Jesus face to face and reuniting with his loved ones.

Jim was born on February 5, 1934 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a son of the late George Rogers Copeland and Ruth Foljambe Copeland, MD. He was married to Lucinda Susan “Sue” Holstein Roe for 57 years, until she went to be with the Lord on June 16, 2013.  On June 1, 1956, Jim’s graduation from the Naval Academy and his wedding occurred the same day, thus saving his “North Country” family from making two trips to Annapolis, Maryland.

After he graduated from the Naval Academy, he trained as a pilot, flying the SNJ trainer and various propeller planes, including a twin engine 6-8 passenger plane from WWII, the SNB. Next he learned night flying, then techniques for landing on an aircraft carrier, and finally he became a helicopter pilot. The helicopter is a difficult aircraft to fly, but it was his favorite. In the interviews for his biography he said, “I really enjoyed flying helicopters because of all the things they can do: go up, down, even backwards. They can land just about anywhere. They were used to pick up mail or people, drop practice torpedoes, and to rescue people who were wounded and get them to medical care. One of my sailors invented something like a fishing pole to pick up the practice torpedoes so we could reuse them. I wasn’t interested in jets. I asked for helicopters. But if the engine ever quits when you are close to the ground, you’d land pretty hard.”

Jim served as a helicopter pilot in the Navy until he received a medical discharge in 1959. After he left the Navy, he had a varied civilian career which included engineering work, teaching science, digitizing the telephone system, and setting up computer networks. He lived in Crozet, VA, for 40 years and worked as an engineer for Centel/Sprint until his retirement in 1999. His high blood pressure kept him from ever being a pilot again, but he joined the Civil Air Patrol as a radio communicator and observer in search and rescue operations.

Jim often repeated that the Lord Jesus Christ and his family were by far the two most significant elements in his life. Jim chose to begin his biography with these words from verse 5 of Psalm 16: “Lord, I have chosen you alone as my inheritance. You are my prize, my pleasure, and my portion. I leave my destiny and its timing in your hands.” Through the many trials of his life, he clung to the Lord. He was very enthusiastic about Christian small group home meetings and often hosted them. Throughout the many geographical moves which involved numerous searches for a new church, denominations did not matter to him. What mattered was whether the church loved the Lord, believed the Bible, and had small group home meetings. Most recently, he was a faithful member of Mountain Plain Baptist Church until he moved to live with his son John in Blacksburg, VA in 2017. In Blacksburg, he was a member of The River Anglican Church. In 2021, he moved to live with his daughter Rebecca in Harrisonburg, VA, and joined Zion Mennonite Church.

Jim always told the truth even when there was a personal cost. For example, as a teenager hunting with his father, he mistakenly shot an otter, a protected species. He never hunted again, but he painstakingly listed this “criminal background” on every one of his several college applications. The colleges accepted him anyway.

Surviving are his six children (Ruth Ann, Jimmy, John, David, Timothy, and Rebecca), two sisters (Barbara and Nancy), sixteen grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.

In addition to his wife and his parents, Jim was preceded in death by a brother, Edmund Copeland, and a grandchild.

A graveside service will be held on Monday, July 22, 2024 at 12:30 p.m. at Culpeper National Cemetery in Culpeper, Virginia. The family will gather at the entrance at 501 E. Chandler St., Culpeper, VA to proceed to the graveside.

A memorial service will be held on Sunday, July 28, 2024  at 3 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church in Harrisonburg, Virginia with Stephen and Samuel Copeland officiating.

First Presbyterian Church cannot accept flower deliveries on Sundays, and the cemetery will dispose of flowers immediately after the burial. Because Jim volunteered as part of a prayer support group for The Agape Center NRV, in lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made online to https://www.mightycause.com/organization/Agapecenternrv or by mail with a check made out to The Agape Center NRV to P.O. Box 1281, Christiansburg, VA  24068.