Rev. William H. Copeland Jr.

For more than six decades, Pastor Copeland preached the Gospel and served the community. For 36 of those years, he was pastor of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church in Kankakee, Illinois, where he sought by his love for the people to positively influence life in Kankakee, its surrounding communities and across the nation. He was husband to Leola (Coley) Copeland for 67 years. To their union, two children were born: Kenneth Edward and Monica Rochelle. He was also father to Walter Klein (of Germany). The son of farmers and grandson to a man born into slavery, William Henry Copeland Jr. was born February 19, 1933, to William Henry Copeland Sr. and Georgia Ann Wyatt Copeland in Piney Woods (Winn Parish), near the town of Dodson, Louisiana, the youngest of 14 children. He accepted Christ at an early age. After completing high school in Winfield, Louisiana, he served in the U.S. Army. He was honorably discharged in 1955. Pastor Copeland accepted his call to the ministry and preached his first public sermon December 12, 1962, and was ordained April 5, 1964, at Metropolitan Baptist Church in Kansas City, Missouri. As a young minister at Metropolitan, Pastor Copeland served as the youth pastor and was also an assistant to the pastor from 1963 to 1967. In February 1967, he was called to pastor the First Baptist Church of Elwood, Kansas. He served in Elwood for five years. Pastor Copeland accepted the pastorate of Morning Star in 1971 and moved to Kankakee in January 1972. He immediately went to work and set about building the church spiritually, starting several new ministries with an emphasis on Christian education. A stalwart social and civil rights activist, Pastor Copeland reorganized the Kankakee County branch of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) and served as its president. He has also served as president of the Northeast Side Ministerial Alliance. He led in the founding of the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Foundation and was its first president; coordinated the Kankakee County Chapter of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition; spearheaded the creation of Citizens for Children’s Rights to Education; served as chief advisor for the Young Ministers’ Division of the National Baptist Convention U.S.A; and organized countless marches and efforts for social and economic justice and against gangs and violence. Pastor Copeland also undertook the building of a new edifice to house the growing congregation. Under the tenure of Pastor Copeland, Morning Star erected a new building in 1976 at 570 N. Harrison Avenue. During his pastorate Morning Star grew to more than 1,500 active members. Pastor Copeland earned a bachelor of science degree from Missouri Western University in St. Joseph, Missouri. He was later awarded an honorary Doctorate of Divinity degree from Morris College, Sumter, S.C. (1975) and McKinley Theological Seminary, Jackson, Mississippi (1977). Pastor Copeland received numerous national, community and civil service awards, including the Ebony Esteem Award for “Man of the Year,” and “Most Outstanding Man in Religion.” He was awarded hundreds of resolutions and certificates of appreciation from presidents William J. Clinton, George Bush and Barack Obama and other city and state officials. In 2008, Pastor Copeland retired as senior pastor of Morning Star after 36 years of service and became pastor emeritus. He did not retire from pastoring the community or from his primary calling to save souls. He leaves to cherish his memory a loving wife of 67 years, Leola; two sons, Walter Klein (wife, Tina) and Dr. Kenneth Edward Copeland (wife, Starla); one daughter, Monica Rochelle Fountain (husband, John W. Fountain); seven grandchildren; one great-granddaughter; a host of nieces and nephews, innumerable sons and daughters in the Gospel and in the community beyond and the members of Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church. Memorials may be made to the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Foundation of Kankakee for the Rev. William H. Copeland Jr. Scholarship.

Tributes

Rev. William H. Copeland Jr.

February 19, 1933 - September 12, 2023