Cora "Lillian" (Cope) Minchey

Cora “Lillian” Cope Minchey made her grand entrance into this world on a cold Friday, January 20, 1942, born to the late Venus Edward Cope and the late Annie Mary Womack Cope in a three-room farmhouse in McMinnville, Tennessee. Her birthplace at 406 Walker Road in McMinnville is surprisingly still standing & inhabited after all these years, which she got a chance to see again last year on a bright sunny day-- her favorite kind of day--with her children and grandson, Jon, as she thankfully was up to getting out to spend a special afternoon with them driving around middle Tennessee revisiting nostalgic landmarks in her life.

After living a long, fulfilling life of selfless love and service for 82 years and 11 months, on Monday, December 16, 2024, at 3:36 A.M., God graciously granted Lillian the longtime, sincere wish of her heart to peacefully enter into His paradise while comfortably tucked in her own bed at her daughter’s home in Franklin, Tennessee, surrounded by family while listening to her favorite comforting hymn, “Where No One Stands Alone.”

Annie Mary named her newborn daughter Cora for her own dear mother with the same name who sadly died too young at only age 28 on Halloween in 1911 when Annie Mary was just 6 years old. However, Cora Lillian was always just called by her middle name, Lillian. Some in the family also called her “Lil” for short, especially her many beloved nieces and nephews she was so fond of, who called her “Aunt Lil.” Her brothers’ affectionate nickname for her was “Yiddy,” which they loved to call their little sister by as she was growing up.

As a young child, Lillian grew up with her family and her beloved little dog Cricket as they lived in their farmhouse and industriously worked on the Tillett farm outside McMinnville, TN, next to their nice neighbors nearby named the Overalls, who she recently recalled with fondness a few weeks ago as she reminisced about her early years there. Last year as we stood with her in front of the old farm house, she reminisced how her older brother, Frank, got a kick out of having her stand on the concrete front porch, and he’d bring the little Shetland pony she loved named Betsy up to the porch that the Tillett’s kindly let the Cope kids ride, and he’d have her stand on her tip-toes to mount the pony from the porch. At times, their Mother would realize what was going on and would come rushing out of the house scolding Frank because she said Lillian was too young to be on the pony yet since she was only about 4-5 years old at the time, who’d ride Betsy around the yard while hanging on for dear life, which mischievous Uncle Frank thought was so funny and about gave their Mother a heart attack to see.

They then moved for a few years outside of Nashville, TN, to a 2-story house on Ashton Avenue in Bordeaux, where both her parents worked at a hospital in the area. While living there, the worst ice storm in the history of Nashville, known as the "Great Blizzard” hit in late January 1951, which lasted 4 days & caused a complete shutdown of transportation for many days after burying Nashville under 8 inches of ice and snow. As a result, her parents, who were at work when it started coming down so quickly and heavily, were stuck at the hospital unable to get home to their kids for an entire week due to hazardous, impassable roads. They were also unable to even contact their children due to the phone lines being downed by the heavy ice, so Lillian and her older siblings Frank and Peggy weathered the storm together huddled in the cold, with Peggy, who was still a teenager, industriously managing to cook them some food to keep them warm and fed, despite having no electricity, as they wondered if their parents were okay. This experience made quite an impression on young Lillian, who was worried about her parents as the frozen days of stillness stretched on and on, and she never forgot this traumatic weather event.

They then moved back to the city of McMinnville and lived in a house at 227 River Drive that her father cleverly somehow managed to build on his own without using any house plans. He bought a general store in McMinnville on High Street across from an old cemetery where they also sold enticing wrapped candies in big barrels, which little Lillian loved sampling to her heart’s desire, just like most kids in a candy store with unlimited access would gleefully do. She later admitted she greatly regretted repeatedly indulging her sweet tooth at a young age since she ended up paying dearly with a lifetime of pesky dental issues to deal with. They had to close the store after a few years because her kind-hearted, generous father gave away too much to shoppers on store credit. He didn’t much have the heart to pursue payment from everyone on their “store tab”, especially from those he felt might be in need, so he wasn’t making enough money to support his family.

Next, they moved to Battle Creek, Michigan at the urging of her older brothers who already were living and working there when she was a young teen, where her parents both got jobs working again in hospitals. In high school, she was a good swimmer, so she became a lifeguard, which was also her first job. She graduated from Battle Creek Central High School in 1959 and was the first in her family to get to attend college at Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tennessee, where she graduated from in 1963 with a bachelor’s degree in Home Economics.

During her college years, she met the love of her life, Durene “D.C.” Minchey, in 1959 when she was a freshman at Lipscomb at a skating rink on Thompson Lane in Nashville. After dating through college, they got married after graduation on July 5, 1963, in Battle Creek, Michigan, after which she used her college degree to work teaching home economics to middle school and high school students for 3 years.

D.C. and very cold-natured Lillian quickly grew weary of dealing with the harsh winters in Michigan, especially once their daughter, DeeLaine (“DeeDee”), was born in 1966 and they struggled to keep their baby girl bundled up in the cold, so they decided to strike out and bravely move across the country to a warmer climate in Austin, Texas, in 1968, without knowing a soul there.

They soon celebrated the birth of their son, Nathan Derek, in 1969, and Lillian gladly stayed home doing the full-time job of mothering DeeDee and Nathan until the late 70’s, when she went back to work as an administrative assistant for a few years at The Marbridge House, which provided safe, loving residential care for adults with intellectual disabilities, and later worked as an administrative assistant at CNA Life Insurance Company for 11 years, which she retired early from in 1989 with some debilitating health issues she’d struggled with for a long time.

In the early 90’s, the source of her longtime health issues was thankfully at last identified by a persistent, observant doctor, and was finally able to be better addressed with treatments that started healing her enough that she was able to enjoy doing some traveling with her husband to see their son Nathan play professional baseball all across America, including at his memorable major league debut game pitching for the Boston Red Sox in September 1993 in Cleveland, and later traveling to Japan a couple of times after he was recruited to pitch for some professional Japanese teams, the Hiroshima Carp and later the Chiba Lotte Marines. They also enjoyed their adventurous travels to the Bahamas with family as well as getting to visit Hawaii together over the years.

In fact, they were planning on going back to their favorite place they visited, Hawaii, for their 50th anniversary in July, 2013 when their plans were tragically cut short after Lillian unfortunately suffered a debilitating major stroke on December 10, 2012, that caused her right side to be paralyzed. After her stroke, her devoted husband was diligently by her side through sickness and health--despite his own failing health—loyally doing all he could to help her recover and also to help her do the things she could no longer do for herself.

Because of her stroke, D.C. and Lillian decided to sell their home in Pflugerville, Texas that he’d built 34 years earlier, and take their daughter, DeeDee, up on her offer for them to move into her home with her in Franklin, TN, on June 23, 2013. Although it was a big adjustment and they were sad to say farewell to their son Nate and his sweet family, as well as their church family at Cameron Road Church of Christ who they'd worshipped with for the last 45 years, they both enjoyed being back in the beautiful rolling hills of their home state of Tennessee and getting to know their new church family at Berry’s Chapel Church of Christ in Franklin, TN, in the months before her beloved husband’s health started declining faster after moving to Tennessee, and he ultimately passed away the following year in October, 2014.

Lillian & D.C. faithfully devoted themselves to raise their children, DeeDee and Nate, to love and serve God and others, which Lillian did not only in word, but very much modeling a servant’s heart for them daily also in deed by serving & mentoring in the prison ministry for many years, visiting nursing homes & leading weekly Ladies’ Bible classes there also for many years, and teaching Cradle Roll and overseeing the nursery ministry at Cameron Road Church of Christ for well over a decade. She was always willing and eager to help those who needed it in any way she could. In fact, as her health failed in recent weeks and she became bed-bound, when her daughter asked her what was one of the happiest times or moments in her life, with hardly any hesitation, she managed to murmur that it was when she was able to serve God and others during a special 4-day long weekend of ministry, which says a lot about her character and devotion to being the hands and feet of God to show others His love here on earth.

Lillian was preceded in death by her devoted husband of 51 years, Durene “D.C.” Minchey, as well as her older brothers Fred Cope, Gaines Cope, Frank Cope, and Walter Dean Cope, who sadly died as an infant of strep throat. She was also preceded in death by her sister, Peggy Cope Reed, who she also considered a second mother since she was 10 years older than Lillian and often played that role since their mother, Annie Mary, asked her to help with her little sister, and was additionally preceded in death by their special cousin who was more like another sister to them, Marie West Morris.

Lillian is survived by her loving, supportive son, Nathan Derek "Nate" Minchey (Gretchen) of Jarrell, TX, and daughter, DeeLaine “DeeDee” Minchey Hoover of Franklin, TN, for whom it has been a great honor to get the opportunity to lovingly care for her mother full-time the last 12 years since her massive stroke, just like her sweet mother Lillian so lovingly managed to care for her and Nathan when they were growing up & guiding them to where they are today, somehow all while struggling with her own health challenges. After all, there’s no expiration date on the Biblical command to “honor thy father and thy mother.”

Lillian and D.C. were the proud grandparents of six: Alyssa Ashley Hoover of London, UK; Jesse Derek Minchey (Nicole) of Denver, CO; Jonathan Riley Hoover of Franklin, TN; Lauren Elaine Minchey Gilmore (Nick) of Anna, TX; Casey Derek Daisuke Minchey, of Jarrell, TX, and Kobe Derek Minchey, of Stephenville, TX, to whom Lillian was their “Granny-Nana”, or “Nana” for short, as well as two precious great-grandchildren, Rory David Gilmore and Everly Jane Gilmore of Anna, TX, all of whom survive her. She is also survived by several loving nieces and nephews, as well as two dear sisters-in-law, Eleanor West Cope and Bettye Minchey Wilkerson.

The family would like to thank all the wonderful health professionals with Vanderbilt Home Health and Alive Hospice at home, who treated Lillian with the utmost care and compassion in the final days of her life.

The celebration of Lillian’s earthly life will be held at the Dignity Hall Chapel at Woodlawn Roesch-Patton Memorial Gardens in Nashville, TN on Monday, December 30th, at 2:30 P.M. The family will receive friends before the service from 1:30 P.M. to the funeral hour at 2:30 P.M. Interment will immediately follow the service at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens on Thompson Lane in Nashville, which is a special thoroughfare that has significant meaning to D.C. and Lillian since they first met in 1959 on Thompson Lane at a Lipscomb event held at a long-gone skating rink. They also went on their first date the very next day at the Shoney’s restaurant at Thompson Lane and Nolensville Road, (where they also got a chance to celebrate their 50th anniversary a few weeks after moving to Tennessee at that very same Shoney’s restaurant in July 2013 not long before it closed permanently, where they ordered the same hamburger with fries meal they excitedly enjoyed together on their first date 54 years earlier.) They later got engaged just off Thompson Lane at Sevier Park on Granny White Pike, and are now sweetly being laid to rest together back on Thompson Lane at Woodlawn Memorial Gardens, which they drove by so many times as a young couple, under a bronze and granite memorial marker inscribed with a comforting scripture that was meaningful to both of them from Isaiah 57: 1-2, which says:

“The righteous perish, and no one takes it to heart; the devout are taken away, and no one understands that the righteous are taken away to be spared from evil. Those who walk uprightly enter into peace; they find rest as they lie in death.”

Memorial contributions may be made in lieu of flowers to two causes dear to Lillian’s heart, the World Bible School in Nashville, TN (https://www.worldbibleschool.net/give/) or to the Prison Ministry she faithfully served in for many years from the beginning at Cameron Road Church of Christ in Austin, TX (https://crccaustin.org/involvement/prison-ministry)