Page 4 - The Wayne Dispatch

Wayne loses community icon and diamond

By Carolyn Marnon the Greyhound bus stopped there, the block on Wayne Road between
An icon of the community has he would take a passenger who had Ash and Elm streets, he went on to
died. William “Wild Bill” Copland disembarked wherever they needed own the video store, and then two
died June 18 after a fight with can- to go. Sharron says she didn’t like more buildings that made up the
cer. He was 81. Bill doing this since he didn’t know bike shop. He added a garage to the
As “Taps” played into the sky out- the person, but Bill would do it any- bike shop. He moved into the land-
side the doors of St. John’s Episco- way. It was the type of person he was. scaping business. Bill’s intention
pal Church on a warm 81° summer Sharron was a stay-at-home was to own the entire block. At his
morning, mourners packed the rows mother to their three children. When death, he still owned the building
of pews, some having to sit in folding the youngest, Linda, went off to col- where Scooters-N-More is located.
chairs, others having to stand at the lege, Sharron had plans for what to All the rest of the buildings had been
back of the church. The parking lot do with her new “spare” time. Bill sold.
was filled to capacity. Overflow park- had other plans. He put her to work Because of all his businesses, the
ing spilled out onto the front and “for just an hour or two a day, a few Copland’s didn’t travel much. His fa-
back lawns and into the school park- days a week” Bill told her. That vorite place was Alaska where they
ing lot next door. All had come to pay ended up being all day six days a cruised the inland passage. He
their respects to Bill and his family week. Sharron would tell Bill she didn’t like Hawaii. Once, on a Missis-
and to share stories of how he had didn’t know what she was doing, but sippi riverboat cruise at Mardi Gras
impacted their lives. he told her she would learn in time time, the riverboat staff handed out
The Reverend Tom Wilson came how to run the party store, the ice crepe paper for passengers to make
from his home in Tennessee to lead cream parlor inside and western costumes for a party. Sharron and
the funeral celebration. Rev. Wilson union, among other duties. her friend’s husband had hurt them-
was a former pastor at St. John’s; he William “Wild Bill” Copland Bill was a family man according selves and couldn’t dress up, but her
and his wife became great friends them up. He later became a bottle- to Sharron. He and his boys raced friend Betty was a carrot, while Wild
with Bill and Sharron. Sharron says boy and kept working his way up all-terrain vehicles in competitions. Bill might have a been a stalk of cel-
that when Tom heard of Bill’s death, through the positions until eventu- He coached hockey and baseball for ery. “It was something ridiculous,”
he told her he would come to Michi- ally, “He owned the whole thing!” ex- the boys. They had horses, so he did Sharron laughs. There was also a
gan to officiate at the funeral. claims Sharron. things on the horse route. time when they travelled to the
In his homily, Rev. Wilson said he Bill and Sharron were married He loved elephants. There are Upper Peninsula and after dinner at
met Bill 47 years ago during the in- for 58 years and have lived in the signs of this throughout his home. It some greasy spoon in the middle of
terview process to become the pastor same house in Wayne those entire 58 might seem, however, that he might nowhere, Bill stood outside and did
at St. John’s. Bill was on the vestry years. They met while she worked at have had a secret way with cats. the Tarzan call.
and was part of the process. He Leright’s. She says he rented a room Sharron tells a tale about Tillie, a cat Bill is survived by his wife Shar-
spoke of the many church activities down the street. who lived down the street from the ron, his children William and Linda,
Bill had been involved in over the Sometime in her 30s, Sharron party store. She was constantly fol- his sisters Sharon, Joni, Kathy and
years, including the church bowling had a pulmonary embolism in her lowing Bill around and loved to get Susie, brothers Robert, Butch, John
league. He told the attendees that Bill leg. One thing after another seemed up on his shoulders and sleep on his and David, six grandchildren, six
had a great love of toys. Those toys to plague her health, but she says neck. He would take Tillie home, great-grandchildren and one great-
just happened to be front-end load- through it all, “We had a very good and she’d come right back to the great-grandchild. He was preceded
ers, snow plows, riding mowers, marriage. Very compatible. We never shop. Sharron says Bill never liked in death by his parents William and
dump trucks and the like. He spoke fought. He always took such good cats but after Tillie met an unfortu- Margaret Copland, his sister Bar-
about the business’s Bill had in care of me. You don’t find men like nate demise, Bill had a portrait of bara and his son, Darrell.
Wayne: the party store, the video Bill anymore.” her made that hung in the home. The City Council issued a resolu-
store and the bike shop. He spoke While Bill was in the Army, Shar- Once Bill owned the party store, tion in memorium of Wild Bill Cop-
about Bill’s singing, especially during ron stayed at their home in Wayne. which consisted of two buildings on land at the July 2 meeting.
the winter. A favorite? “Every time it She says he almost went to the Bay
snows, it snows pennies from of Pigs (a failed military invasion of
heaven.” Yes, Wild Bill had a sense of Cuba). When asked what he did in
humor. Unfortunately, the last few the Army, Sharron says he was on a
months had been hard on Bill. He boat where the end tips down and
became frustrated because he was the men all run onto the ground.
not able to do all those things he’d “What you see is what you got,”
once been able to do. Most in the Sharron says about Bill. She men-
community know that Bill seemed to tions how he would come across a
be everywhere. Sharron later com- homeless person that he would then
mented, “You know Bill. He never take care of-giving him food and shel-
stops.” ter. That person would eventually
Young Bill started his “career” as die, and he would get a new home-
a chip bagger at the party store when less person to take care of. “He was
he was 14. The store was owned by such a good Christian. He did what
someone else then. The store made Jesus told him to do,” Sharron says.
their own chips, and Bill bagged When he owned the party store and
4 · July 2019 · The Wayne Dispatch