A celebration of a long life, well-lived, for Violet Coppola White, who died March 5 at Northside Forsyth Hospital in Cumming, Georgia, will be held on March 30, 2019 at 10 o’clock at St. Mary’s Basilica in Natchez, Mississippi. Burial will follow at Natchez City Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.
Violet was born with a happy disposition on November 17, 1920 in Hamden, Connecticut to Catholic Italian immigrants, Eugenio and Rosa Maturo Coppola. She grew up in a home full of love, hard work and Italian cooking and traditions. She was captain of her high school hockey team, learned to ride a bicycle in her early 30s and at 50, she conquered waterskiing on her first try.
Graduating from the University of Connecticut School of Pharmacy in 1942, Violet was a lifelong Huskies fan. During World War II, she joined the United States Navy, where she met her husband, Martin, in 1944. After dating for three weeks, they were married until Martin’s death in 2003.
Violet was a talented artist, embracing visual art in many different media and winning awards over the years. Her artistry and love also shone through in her wonderful Italian cooking. She and Martin were ardent fans of Dixieland jazz, traveling to attend several festivals after their retirement. She also loved Mardi Gras, so it seems fitting that she left this world on Fat Tuesday.
A 37-year resident of Pearl, Mississippi, Violet was a pharmacist with the Mississippi State Department of Health Pharmacy, where she worked with cystic fibrosis patients. She cared deeply about the patients, often staying long after closing to get their prescriptions filled. She was a scout leader, an avid docent at the Mississippi Museum of Art for many years and a volunteer reader for the visually impaired on the radio for public broadcasting.
In 2006, Violet moved to Cumming to live with her daughter Jeanie and husband, Richard. She thoroughly enjoyed her life in Georgia, sitting on the screened-in porch reading a book and drinking coffee while she listened to the sounds of nature and watched the birds, squirrels and chipmunks. She and the family dog, a Doberman who weighed the same as Violet, were very best buddies.
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