P { margin-bottom: 0.08in; }

Jan. 15, 1941 – Sept. 10, 2015

NATCHEZ — Services for Marlon Copeland, 74, of Natchez, who died Thursday, Sept. 10, 2015, at Merit Health Natchez Community Campus, will be 2 p.m. Sunday at First Baptist Church.

Burial will follow at the Natchez City Cemetery under the direction of Laird Funeral Home.

Visitation will be from 5 to 7 p.m. today at the funeral home and from 1 p.m. until service time Sunday at the church.

Marlon Larue Copeland was a loving husband, an engaged father and a passionate servant to his church and community.  Born in Neshoba County, he was the son of Grady Okla and Gertie Leona Copeland, two public school employees and part-time farmers.

Marlon graduated from Neshoba County High School and earned degrees at East Central Junior College, Mississippi State University (bachelor of science in electrical engineering) and Mississippi College (master’s in business administration).

Marlon worked with Mississippi Power and Light (Entergy Corporation) for 32 years. His service as an electrical engineer included hazard work in numerous hurricanes, memorable ice storms and countless power outages. Marlon’s knowledge of electricity and experience found its way into Greg Isles first novel about World War II, a book called “Black Cross.” 

For the last 20 years of his life, Marlon was an owner/broker for Century 21 River Cities Realty, where he worked alongside his wife, Charlotte Ann Thornton, who he married on Aug. 31, 1963.  From this marriage, three children were born,  Philip, Laura, and Andrew. From these children, there were seven grandchildren, Margot and Madison Copeland, Coleman and Connor Tate, and Catherine, Caroline and Claire Copeland.

Marlon was the kind of man that helped other people.  Often this attitude of service placed him in leadership positions and he served as the president of various organizations during his life, including the Natchez Jaycees, the Natchez Lion’s Club, the Natchez Historical Society, the school board of Adams County Christian School and the Natchez Board of Realtors.  In 1995, the Boy Scouts awarded him with the Silver Beaver Award, a recognition given to Scouters of exceptional 

character who provided distinguished service withina council. 

Marlon was a member of First Baptist Church in Natchez and was active as a deacon, choir member and general craftsman. He used his engineering and electrical skills in various mission activities around Natchez and on church-sponsored trips.

Marlon took pleasure in history and occasional woodworking.  In the 1970s, he was a frequent participant in crafts fairs and art shows. Marlon specialized in creating fern stands from a wood lathe.   He and his wife purchased the antebellum home Sweet Auburn in 1993, and together they spent the last 20 years restoring the home to its original 1833 glory, winning the “George and Ethel Kelly Restoration Award” from the Historic Natchez Foundation in 2010.   A personal victory for Marlon and Charlotte was getting the house on the 2013 Fall Pilgrimage of Homes.

After recovering from life-threatening injuries that resulted from a fall off a ladder in the summer of 2012, Marlon was diagnosed with lung cancer in the spring of 2015.  Although he and Charlotte pursued aggressive treatments, the toll of the disease and its rapid spread was too much for him to endure.  He died peacefully in the morning hours of Sept. 10, surrounded by his wife, her sister, Becky McPhail, and his children.

Online condolences may be sent to lairdfh.com.