Thelma Marice Copt

Thelma Marice Copt, 98 of Emporia, Kansas died Sunday, August 5, 2018 at the Chase County Care and Rehab Center in Cottonwood Falls, Kansas.

Marice was born August 29, 1919 in Reading, Kansas the daughter of Drew R. and Lauretta M. (Bielman) Drummond. When she was a small child, her family moved to a farm west of Emporia which remained her home until she was grown. Marice attended Lyon County schools graduating in 1932 receiving the highest grade among graduates and also awarded the DAR medal for excellence in history and civics. She graduated from Emporia High School in 1936, and received her Bachelor and Master’s Degrees from Emporia State University. She spent most of her adult life teaching school with 43 years spent in Chase County Schools and one year in Marion County.

On December 24, 1947 she was married to John Milton Pinkston of Florence in Atchison, Kansas. They resided in Florence, Kansas until his death seven years later in Febuary of 1955. She continued to live in Florence until 1969 when she married Lawrence Copt on August 30, 1969, and moved to Emporia. The last 5 years of teaching, she maintained a second home in Cottonwood Falls. She was a past member of the Chase County Teachers Association, Kansas State Teachers Association, National Education Association, and the American Legion Auxiliary of Florence. She was a member of the Cottonwood Falls Eastern Star, Chapter 25. In her earlier years, she was active in the Methodist Church at Plymouth serving as a Sunday School Teacher and pianist, and Lyon County 4-H groups as a member and a leader.

Marice was preceded in death by her both of her husbands, her father in 1972, her mother in 1994, her brother Warren in 1982, another brother died in infancy. She is survived by cousins, other relatives, friends and her care giver Alice Brandon.

Funeral services will be 2:00 Thursday, August 9, 2018 at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home in Emporia. Pastor Gene McIntosh of the First United Methodist Church in Emporia will be officiating. Interment will be in the Cottonwood Cemetery west of Emporia.