A Firm Hand & A Tender Heart

Horton Dempsey Copeland and Evelyn Tapper were married on December 7, 1932 in Elkton, Maryland. They purchased a 125 acre farm in Norfolk County, Virginia in October 1943. There was a two story house with four bedrooms, kitchen, dining room, living room, no indoor plumbing. They had two daughters and three sons, Marie, James, Helen, John and Horton Jr. Later a daughter, Frances was born in 1944, a son, Robert in 1945 and a son, Kenneth in 1948. Horton, Sr., a carpenter for the government, provided financial support, operated the farm and provided leadership for the family, died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of fifty on July 23, 1952. Their mother, thirty eight year old home maker, with eight children between the ages of three and eighteen, had to determine how her family would persevere and get along without their dad. Her oldest son, James was sixteen and entering the twelfth grade at Deep Creek High School. With his leadership and responsibility for the farm, he quickly matured far beyond his age of sixteen. This was the beginning of a new chapter in the life of their family with the challenges, and difficulties that lay ahead. They learned to work, play, and pray together as a family and witnessed first-hand how God answers prayer. Sometimes tragedy brings out the best in families. It did in their family. They applied themselves to support their mom, developed an unconditional love for each other and a bond that can never be broken. Their story “A Firm Hand & A Tender Heart” is a journey of Love of Family, Faith, Redemption, Devotion, Miracles and Memories as experienced by the Copeland’s of Deep Creek.