Longtime Elgin teacher, former Tuskegee Airman dies at 96

Friends and family say Melvin Copeland didn't talk about himself much, but he would have had plenty to say if he did.

From scholarship college athlete to Tuskegee Airman in World War II, Copeland later earned two master's degrees and participated in the civil rights movement. A 40-year teaching career in Elgin followed, from which he retired at age 70, only to start a new 20-year career as a social worker and therapist before retiring at age 90.

Copeland died last week at the age of 96.

"He was so modest, he never bragged about any of his accomplishments," said longtime friend Carla Khan. "You would have to pull it out of him, and even then, he wouldn't give you everything."

Born in Aberdeen, Mississippi, Copeland and his family moved to Toledo, Ohio, when he was 3 because his father refused to "pay to vote" in the South. Copeland ran track and played basketball in high school, earning a basketball scholarship to the University of Toledo.

After one year, Copeland volunteered for the Army to fight in World War II. He initially attended officer training but was eventually told they wouldn't accept Black officers. He joined the Tuskegee Airmen, hoping to be a pilot. But at 6 feet, 5 inches tall, he couldn't fit in the cockpit so he became a munitions specialist with the 99th Fighter Squadron, which flew missions out of Italy until the war's end.

Copeland attended Ohio University on the GI Bill after returning home and earned master's degrees from the University of Michigan and Northern Illinois University.

A past president of the Elgin chapter of the NAACP, he participated in myriad civil rights marches and met the likes of Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis. Khan said she found out because they saw Lewis on television and Copeland said, "Oh, I met him a few times."

Copeland taught in Elgin Area School District U-46, Elgin Community College and Aurora University for 40 years before retiring.

"But he had way too much energy and still wanted to help people," Khan said. So he started a new career as a licensed clinical therapist for the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services and in his own practice, before retiring for good.

Copeland was a lifelong athlete who loved playing tennis as he got older. A three-time cancer survivor, Copeland broke his right arm during a battle with bone cancer at the age of 80, according to his cousin Lorraine Shoto.

"So he learned to play left-handed," she said. "It was amazing."

Shoto said Copeland was larger than life to her.

"He had a heart of gold and he really put in to practice all the good things a person should do, and made his life about serving others and his community and his country," she said.

Copeland will be buried at Abraham Lincoln Cemetery. The date is pending and arrangements are being handled by Countryside Funeral Home.