Rev. Copeland, who built and led Morning Star Baptist, dies

KANKAKEE — It would not be an overreach to state that for a nearly 30-year period, the Rev. William Copeland was the region’s most prominent church leader.

And the Morning Star Missionary Baptist Church, 570 N. Harrison Ave., a church Copeland helped relocate and build, was his home base.

“He gave the vision to what this community could be,” said Jeff Jones, 74, owner of Jones Funeral Home in Kankakee. Jones was 18 years old when he first met the Rev. Copeland.

“He was a pioneer in this area,” Jones said of Copeland, referencing not only his pastoral work, but his commitment to social justice, civil rights, educational opportunities and numerous other causes.

“Rev. Copeland was able to walk the line between political causes and his religious role. He was able to make the transition from a pastor of the flock to be a community leader,” Jones said. “He never forgot that role.”

Copeland died Tuesday in his Kankakee home. He was 90.

A public memorial service has been set for 5 p.m. Sept. 24 at the College Church, 200 University Ave., Bourbonnais. Funeral services will be at 10 a.m. Sept. 25 at Morning Star. There will be a visitation at 9 a.m.

A husband to Leola and a father of three — Walter, Edward and Monica — as well as the pastor to one of Kankakee County’s largest and active churches, Copeland was able to maintain those roles equally.

He took up a number of social causes and injustices. He was on the forefront of any number of issues which impacted the community.

And through it all, he was the key figure behind the new Morning Star Baptist Church being constructed along North Harrison Avenue in 1974 and 1975, in the heart of the neighborhood where so many of Morning Star’s membership resided.

THE NEW MORNING STAR

Prior to Morning Star’s relocation to North Harrison, the church was located along Hobbie Avenue. The congregation simply outgrew the site.

Only a few years after his January 1972 arrival as Morning Star’s pastor, a plan was set in motion to construct a new church.

But the pastor made his intentions clear. The church would be where the congregation lived, meaning Kankakee’s north side.

Jeff Jones’ late father, Tom, who was a leader at Morning Star informed Copeland he had what believed to be the spot the pastor had in mind.

He showed Copeland an approximate six-acre site in North Harrison’s 500 block. Copeland agreed. This would be were the church would be built.

A capital campaign was launched. Loans were gathered. And the then-$700,000 church was built. It opened in 1976.

The family of the young Genevra Walters were church members. Walters, the superintendent of Kankakee School District 111, has no memories of the Hobbie Avenue church, but the new Morning Star was something of a home away from home to her.

She remembers Sunday mornings walking to church from her family’s home in the 500 block of North Dearborn Avenue. She recalled years of religious education classes.

“We would pass by so many families who were attending Morning Star. He was right," Walters said. "The church was part of the community in which we lived.”

LEADER AMONG LEADERS

Outside of her parents, Walters said the Rev. Copeland had the most profound impact as she matured from a child into adulthood.

“He led the advocacy for civil rights and equality. His pursuit of equality was relentless,” she said.

She said he often spoke from the pulpit about education and its role in shaping young minds.

“He helped make me who I am today,” Walters said. “It will take a lot of people in a lot of roles to fill his shoes,” she said.

Born in Winn Parish, La., Copeland was the youngest of 14. Following high school, he earned a science degree from Missouri Western University in St. Joseph, Mo.

In 1975, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Morris College in Sumter, S.C., and in 1977 from McKinley Theological Seminary in Jackson, Miss.

A U.S. Army veteran who served in the combat engineers from 1952-56, including 18 months in Germany, Copeland was ordained in 1964.

In February 1967, Copeland became pastor of First Baptist Church in Elwood, Kan. He first arrived in Kankakee in 1971. He accepted the Morning Star pastorate in 1972.

He served as Morning Star pastor until 2008 at which time he was honored as pastor emeritus.

‘A MAN OF GOD’

“He was quite a fellow,” Kankakee County Board member and lifelong Kankakeean Steven Hunter said. “He always carried the banner for fairness. On the issues of which he campaigned, history will prove him correct.”

Hunter simply called Copeland a “man of God.”

“He advocated for the underserved long before that thought was popular. He fought for his convictions no matter what those in authority may have said. He was one of the few crying voices in the wilderness at that time,” he said.

“His legacy will remain in the annals of Kankakee for forever and a day. Many doors of opportunity were opened by Rev. Copeland,” Hunter said.

The fire which drove Copeland never waned.

He took up issues dealing with the Kankakee County Housing Authority, with the Kankakee School District and even then-Bradley Mayor Ken Hayes.

He led a boycott in 1990 against Bradley when Hayes said the village would not recognize Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday as a holiday based on the thought few Black people lived in the village.

Kankakeean Dennis Baron, a longtime Kankakee City Council member, said there is no mistaking the Rev. Copeland as being the primary civil rights leader in this region.

“He stood his ground and he spoke eloquently and history has proven him right,” Baron said.

Baron noted Copeland also reached out to who would have been outside the circle he was serving.

“He made connections with many, but he never gave an inch. The community needs leaders like that: strong, moral leaders,” he said.

Theodis Pace, longtime leader of the Kankakee County Branch of the NAACP, termed Copeland “a man before his time” on many social justice fronts.

“He was a trailblazer, no question. He helped prepare me for what I’m doing. He went far beyond talking from the pulpit,” Pace said.

‘A GREAT FATHER’

Copeland’s daughter, Monica, explained the new Morning Star was opened was she was just 7. She could not begin to guess at how many hours she may have spent there. She couldn’t estimate how much time her father did as well.

But she said he was most often home for supper and the family meal was always filled with conversation.

She noted he had a great sense of humor.

“He was a great father. He was always present. … He was approachable, touchable. He was a true shepherd,” she said.

Thinking back to those years, Monica said the family had to share their father because he belonged to the community as well as to his wife and children.

“We never felt neglected," she said. "He was a father to the Kankakee community.”

Son, Edward, said his father’s spiritual DNA was spread throughout his work.

“He helped raise a generation. We have no problem with that. He is a proud part of our legacy,” he said.

They believe his name will live on, just as those he helped guide.

“He loved the community,” Monica said. “But there is still a lot of work to be done.”