Douglas Robert Copeland

Service, honor and leadership were the three tenets that guided Douglas Robert Copeland through the 96 years of his life, whether it was by enlisting with the Marines during World War II, achieving his Eagle Scout Award and later leading boys as assistant Scoutmaster in Maitland or taking the helm of his church’s board of trustees.

Mr. Copeland died Thursday, July 18, 2019, at the Mayflower Retirement Community in Winter Park, where as a parishioner at the First Congregational Church of Winter Park, he served as a founding board member to plan and develop the sprawling complex off Aloma Avenue.

Born on Easter Sunday (and April Fool’s Day) in Englewood, N.J., in 1923, he was the son of the late Commodore Douglas Wallace Copeland, USNR, and Madeleine Chenery Jeffers Copeland. His only sibling, younger brother William “Billy” Chenery, died as a toddler of what was likely rheumatic fever.

Early in his childhood, his family moved to Atlanta, and like many households it faced tense financial times at the height of the Great Depression. A budding entrepreneur, Mr. Copeland pulled a wagon through the neighborhood, selling a homemade herbal concoction his mother called “moxie.” He made a profit by undercutting the competition -- he sold each bottle for 4 cents, Coca-Cola sold for 5 cents.

He received a .22-calibre rifle for Christmas when he was about 7 -- a common gift for young boys at the time -- and his father built him a clubhouse in the backyard. He was playing with his friends in the woods behind his house one day when they stumbled upon an 8-foot-deep trench filled with Civil War rifles, mini balls and other artillery from the Battle of Atlanta. The boys tried to keep their discovery a secret, but one spilled the beans to his parents, and in no time Emory University and Atlanta city officials were removing all the artifacts.

As a Scout (attaining his Eagle by age 14), he was among the 25,000 boys who gathered for the first Boy Scout Jamboree in Washington D.C. in the summer of 1937; they set up tents around the Washington Monument and Tidal Basin. Representing the state of Georgia, Mr. Copeland met President Franklin Roosevelt in the White House.

Later that same year his family moved to Lynchburg, Va. He started college at Hampden-Sydney College but left after his first year to enlist in the Marines in November 1942, seeing combat in Guam and Okinawa. He told his children the story of being assigned to guard his unit’s camp by himself on Guadalcanal. He heard a loud rustle in the grass and feared he was about to be attacked by Japanese soldiers. Instead a large Komodo dragon walked out into the clearing.

He was wounded once during the landing on Guam and twice on Okinawa -- the bloodiest battle of the Pacific War where most of his squad was killed or wounded on Sugar Loaf Hill -- earning him three Purple Hearts. He also received a Bronze Star for heroism.

After his service, he finished his BS degree in chemistry and psychology at Hampden-Sydney (where he was a member of Sigma Chi fraternity), graduating in 1949. After he enrolled in a master’s degree program at the University of Virginia, he was commissioned as an Army infantry officer, seeing service during the beginning of the Korean War, where he was wounded a fourth time.

After his service, he completed his master’s degree in education and training in 1951. Later, in 1974, he got a second master’s degree from the Department of Defense University's Industrial College of the Armed Forces.

In 1952 he was assigned to the Miller School of Albemarle, near Charlottesville, Va., serving as commandant to oversee the addition of military programs to the private school. It was also in 1952 that he married Virginia Murrell Brockenbrough of Lynchburg, a music major at what was then the all-female Randolph-Macon College. She joined him at Miller School as a fifth-grade teacher and music instructor.

In 1957 he was assigned to the Army Participation Group with the Naval Training Device Center, Office of Naval Research, in Port Washington, N.Y. That started a long career in Naval education and training that brought him to Central Florida in 1966 when the Defense Department transferred his organization to the Naval Training Center in Orlando. This is where he built a life for his young family and made long-lasting friends with his neighbors in Dommerich Hills.

As part of his career, he traveled extensively throughout the world for the Defense Department. Upon his retirement in 1984, he was recognized with the Department of the Navy Superior Civilian Service Award.

He then took a position as program director and senior analyst for Eagle Technology Inc., which later became part of Northrop-Grumman, where he continued to develop Naval training systems.

Despite his 42 years in the military, there was still much to learn about the federal government. He had that chance when he was tapped in 1991 by former U.S. Rep. Bill McCollum to serve as a Congressional Senior Citizen Intern, during which he spent a week in Washington observing official proceedings and meeting federal lawmakers.

''I didn't realize how big our whole government is,'' Mr. Copeland was quoted as saying in The Orlando Sentinel at the time. ''It's a monster!''

He retained a love for Scouting, serving as assistant Scoutmaster for Troop 31 in Maitland with the late Bob Voke. For his service, he was awarded the Silver Beaver, the highest award at the council level by the Boy Scouts of America.

Before and after he retired for good in 1994, Mr. Copeland was active in the community: He twice oversaw the board of trustees at the Congregational Church; assumed leadership roles in myriad organizations, including the University Club of Winter Park; and helped found with his wife the former Festival of Orchestras in 1984.

Family lineage was extremely important to the Copelands, who both traced their ancestors to the Mayflower. He was a member of the Sons of the American Revolution (serving as president of the Central Florida chapter in 1983) and Murrell was with the Daughters of American Revolution, as well as a variety of other heritage organizations.

He and his beloved Murrell celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on Dec. 20, 2002 at the University Club of Winter Park. She died five years later.

There was one more adventure to come. On May 25, 2013, he was flown to Washington D.C. to see the National World War II Memorial for the first time as part of the Honor Flight, a nonprofit that transports America’s heroes to the nation’s capital to visit the memorials. There, he had the thrill of sitting next to former Sen. Bob Dole, who greets many Honor Flights at the landmark.

He is survived by his daughter, Virginia Linn, and son-in-law, Robert Linn, of Pittsburgh, Pa.; and his son, Dr. William Chenery Copeland, Ph.D., and daughter-in-law, Valerie Copeland, of Chapel Hill, N.C.; and five grandchildren, Dr. Alexandra Linn, M.D., Abby and Adam Linn and Chaz and Sophie Copeland.

In lieu of flowers, his family asks that contributions be made to either the Endowment Fund, The University Club of Winter Park, P.O. Box 237, Winter Park, Florida 32790;

the Endowment Fund, The Mayflower Retirement Center; or to the Honor Flight Network to help other deserving veterans make a visit to Washington D.C. (https://secure-web.cisco.com/1Xou7hQ_9ruv2Gts2kIIttGa7Kqyz47w2evX1DYzfpPjbG36Vs56Dci413dvzBmVMxdgupeQpEMjUb9Yfm35w_qMzV8Wk4a3vXh54M1jL8WnltJNuGrqBXQKYJ1jXoNt1ovPjLA2_VsLX9NnRsWFB63RJM4sf2u8DV1YL_fLmlxL8lf4CHoX6DLZ3GBtuBzwLcfPA13eGsPQ8gadqunhwB8OO7FVeF1iqRCKdq7C1uq8uuak_yl-Hv5SYQ4rd0yOsti1TZ7ZSUFz6cyFEtbNGhqfagvQvKdrYiya7380i8XqEAqn6sITeTvd1LxhcOPc-H_BdPLw_ZVedlqsjcsnmgklMyUAgTym-iLgKz3WWtUsf12XV2jM6ZF-tEneNLhvYwe3p3K5k_gBl1sHf-loG7g/https%3A%2F%2Fwww.honorflight.org)

A memorial service will be held at the Standish Center, The Mayflower Retirement Center, 1620 Mayflower Court, Winter Park, at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 27. A reception will follow. He will be buried next to Murrell at Glen Haven Memorial Park, where years ago he installed a white bench to sit by her that read: “Murrell: Devoted to Family, Friends and Music.”