Bernadine Copass

Mrs. Hazel Bernadine (Rhoton) Copass, of Gamaliel, KY, passed away on Saturday, June 1, at the age of 78, after an extended battle with Parkinson’s Disease. She was born in the Boles Community of Monroe County, to Elbert and Estelle (Savage) Rhoton, on March 7, 1946. Bernadine attended the one-room school at Tinsley Hill and was an honor student and a 1965 graduate of Tompkinsville High School. She graduated with honors from Lois Glenn Beauty School in Bowling Green, KY in 1966. Bernadine married Carrol Copass on December 26, 1966, at the home of Elder Carl Jones. To this union were born two children, Stacy Carol and John Nathan. 

Mrs. Copass was saved on the mourner’s bench, in the summer of 1979, at Freedom #2 Missionary Baptist Church. She united with Freedom Church by baptism in 1981 and was baptized by Elder J. C. Austin. Bernadine’s membership remained there until her death. She enjoyed going to church and truly missed being able to attend as her health declined.

Bernadine was a beautician in Gamaliel for over forty years and owned her own shop for most of that time. She enjoyed talking with her customers and was great friends with many of them. She also enjoyed talking and laughing with her brother and sisters, planting and caring for flowers, cooking, caring for her grandchildren, and arranging flowers. She was a good Christian, wife, mother, daughter, sibling, grandmother, aunt, friend, and neighbor. Bernadine will be missed by many, and so will her witty quips.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Elbert and Estelle Rhoton, two sisters, Mary Chloe Smith and Wilma Thompson, her mother and father-in-law, Theo and Eva Copass, her son-in-law, Tim Birge, and brothers-in-law, Elder Mitchell Smith, Truman Thompson, Joe Melton, Marlin Gillenwater, Jerry Copass, and Charles Hale. 

Mrs. Copass is survived by her husband of 56 ½  years, Carrol Copass; her children, Stacy Birge and Nathan Copass, and his wife April; two grandchildren, Elijah and Rachel Birge, all of Gamaliel, one step-granddaughter, Dana Miller, and one step-great grandson, Benton Murphy, both of Tompkinsville; one brother, Elbert Rhoton Jr. and wife Betty, of Greenwood IN;  two sisters, Judy Melton of Moss, TN and Peggy Coffelt of Tompkinsville, KY; two sisters-in-law, Janetta Lacer and husband, Donnie of Henderson, KY and Pat Hale of Tompkinsville; and a host of nieces and nephews, as well as great-nieces and great-nephews. 

Funeral services will be held on Wednesday, June 5th, at 2:00, at Freedom #2 Missionary Baptist Church, on Celina Road in Tompkinsville.  Burial will follow at the Clementsville Cemetery. The family will receive visitors on Tuesday afternoon, from 3:00-8:00 at the Bartley and Sons Gamaliel Chapel, and Wednesday morning from 9:00 until the time for the service at the Freedom #2 Missionary Baptist Church.

Services will be conducted by Elder Greg Dunham and Elder Terry Ford. Pallbearers are nephews, Elder Gary Smith, Mark Gillenwater, Derek Thompson, Brian Coffelt, Jeff Coffelt, Kevin Rhoton, Scott Hale, and Steve Hale.