[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 153 (2007), Part 25]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page 34113]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                        TRIBUTE TO OLA COPELAND

                                 ______
                                 

                        HON. JOHN M. SPRATT, JR.

                           of south carolina

                    in the house of representatives

                       Tuesday, December 11, 2007

  Mr. SPRATT. Madam Speaker, I rise to call the attention of the House 
to Ola Copeland, an outstanding citizen of my district who recently 
passed away in Gaffney South Carolina, a place she called home for her 
entire life.
  Mrs. Copeland was known best for 15 years of service on the Cherokee 
County Board of Education. She believed in education, and as a life-
long citizen, knew Cherokee County well. Her colleagues recognized her 
ability, and elected her Chairwoman of the Cherokee County Board of 
Education, a post she held from 2003 until the day she died. During her 
tenure on the board, she chaired the Curriculum, Budget, and Special 
Needs Committees, served on the Maintenance, Property and Grounds 
Committee, and acted as the Board's Parliamentarian and Legislative 
Contact.
  Despite a lengthy battle with kidney disease, the disease that 
ultimately claimed her life, Mrs. Copeland worked tirelessly to ensure 
that Cherokee County students had the best in education. To accommodate 
her dialysis schedule, the Cherokee County School Board reset its 
meeting. Just as kidney disease did not stop her serving on the board 
of education, it also did not prevent her from being a friendly and 
familiar face at school functions. The day before she was admitted to 
the hospital with her last illness, she attended the Gaffney High 
Homecoming Assembly.
  Mrs. Copeland was deeply involved in her church, served on numerous 
boards, and was a member of various organizations that help make 
Cherokee County a better place. She was an organizer of Theta Beta 
Gamma Sorority, Inc. and a member of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. 
As if serving on the county school board was not enough, she also 
served as an officer in the Rocky Mountain Red Hat Society, Friends of 
the Cherokee County Public Library, and on the board of Piedmont 
Community Action. She was involved in Communities in Schools, the 
Teenage Pregnancy Awareness Council, First Steps Board of Directors, 
and the Renaissance Committee at Gaffney High School.
  Ms. Copeland graduated from Granard High School and earned a business 
degree from Limestone College in Gaffney. She is survived by two sons, 
two daughters-in-law, and three grandchildren. Her life was cut short 
and she died before her time, but if we measure life not by how long we 
live, but by how well, Ola Copeland lived a long, full life. She left 
her community better than she found it, and left her fellow citizens a 
legacy of service and achievement, including her sterling example of 
what life in a democracy is all about.

                          ____________________