Charles D. Cope, beloved father to daughter Lee Cope and son Joel Cope, passed away on March 4 at the age of 89 after a recent and courageous battle with illnesses.
Born in Marion, N.C. during the Great Depression, he spent the formative years of his youth, moving with his parents and siblings, between the states of Tennessee, North Carolina and Georgia. The Great Depression made a distinct and deep impression on him and his view of the world. His father worked in the dogwood timber business and moved wherever the lumber was to be harvested and sent to mill. He became an Eagle Scout in high school. After working to put himself through pharmacy school at Mercer Pharmacy School in downtown Atlanta, he obtained his doctorate in pharmacy and began what would become a multi-decade career as a pharmacist. For him, being a pharmacist was not simply a career or a source of income, but rather it was his calling and his identity, during which time he developed many close relationships with patients and colleagues alike. In addition, he served his country honorably in the U.S. Army during the 1950s during the height of the Cold War, being stationed in what was then, West Germany.
He would go on to meet, and get married to, the love of his life, Miriam Nell Gramling of Gadsden, AL. They would remain happily married until they were separated by her untimely death/ her promotion to the Church Triumphant, in 2006.
A devoted husband and father, he and she would settle down to raise a family in the Atlanta area. Although words hardly seem adequate to describe his impact upon his children, he modeled the importance of your Christian faith, the love of your family, and the importance of a hard work and an education to your path in life.
Whether it was through his church at Peachtree Presbyterian or in the pharmacy field or in the larger community as a whole, he modeled service to others. Friends have commented on his positive outlook on life and his always being ready with a smile and a cheerful word
He was pre-deceased in death by his parents, Martha Mae and Orville Cope, his wife Nell, and older brother, Paul E. Cope. He is survived by his sister Martha Hayden, his daughter Lee Cope, his son Joel Cope, his nephew David Shoemake (Denise) and nephew Richard Shoemake.
Visitation with the family will held at Sandy Springs Chapel at 136 Mount Vernon Highway, Sandy Springs, Ga., 30328 on Saturday, March 12, from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. noon Eastern, to be followed immediately thereafter by the funeral service at noon on Saturday, March 12, also held at Sandy Springs Chapel. Later that same day, there will be a graveside service held at 4 p.m. Central at Forrest Cemetery in Gadsden, AL where he will be laid to rest alongside of his wife.
Southern Standard
(McMinnville, Tenn.) March 11, 2022
