Frances Rebecca Copeland Temple, known simply as “Becki” to those that knew her, passed away in her sleep early on Oct 12th, 2019. She is now decorating Heaven, serving our Lord and Savior in a new capacity…though probably not that different from her earthly service.
Becki was born on January 23rd, 1944 and raised in a non-pretentious but well-kept farmhouse in Stockbridge, Ga as the second of four sisters – Lena Jo (passed away in Nov ‘07), Ginger, and Faye. Raised in the truest tradition of a “steel magnolia” in the shadows of Atlanta, she attended the Henry County school system she graduated from Henry County High School in 1962. She would often remark of the first time she saw snow…big fat snowflakes…on her way to the outhouse…and thought “where did all these chicken feathers come from?”
Her father was a carpenter and her mother raised the four girls and looked after Becki’s grandmother, exhibiting the patience of Job- if Job were a Southern gentlewoman – and could make scratch biscuits, butcher hogs, and pluck chickens. They all picked cotton on their family farm by hand, grew and sold vegetables, and led the quintessential traditional Southern lifestyle with a true and deep seated belief in equality of all before the law and the Lord. They dabbled in several various businesses, to include a gas station, an alterations and clothes sewing business, sold milk, butter, & eggs, and picked, shelled, and sold pecans. These all combined to imbue Becki with an entrepreneurial spirit that she would draw on later in life as she pursued her own business.
Her senior year she won “Miss Congeniality” at a local beauty pageant where she tickled the ivories to the great pleasure of all witnessing it. She herself got plumb tickled later that year when her mother accidentally served a muscadine wine punch – mistakenly made with well preserved (a.k.a. fermented) muscadines – at a Baptist wedding. Of note, that punch was the talk of the county for years afterwards (in a positive, yet wonderfully uninformed manner.)
Her father passed away in early 1962, leaving the family without any steady income. Despite this, she found a way to go to a fashion, modeling, and beauty school the summer after high school, then to the University of Georgia later that fall where a mutual friend introduced her to a dashing Air Force cadet and Connecticut Yankee, Alfred Temple. He graduated the next year, moved off to far away Illinois, and she remained in Atlanta as a court clerk, earning money to pay for their wedding until they were finally able to marry on Valentine’s Day 1965. Meanwhile, foreshadowing the legacy of gentle strength, intelligence, creativity and pure grit that would manifest itself in her later years, her mother became the first woman Insurance Agent for Farm Bureau not only in the state of Georgia, but across the entire nation.
They spent two years as an Air Force couple at Chanute AFB, 130 miles south of Chicago, where her social graces and intrinsic elegance made her an ideal military hostess and Air Force wife. Once Al’s service obligation was met, they elected to leave the Service to avoid the frequent moves and settle in Athens, Al – where she bore two sons, Jason and Adam in 1970 and ‘72. Shortly afterwards, they moved to Moulton, Al…then Millbrook, Al…then finally to Huntsville, Al in 1975, beating the Air Force average of moving every two years.
Once in Huntsville, Becki initially devoted her time to raising two rambunctious boys through numerous planting and harvesting seasons, finding the time to both sing in the church choir and earn extra money on the side via multiple home marketing businesses, starting with AMWAY, then to Lady Love Aloe Vera products, a brief dabbling in antiques (for which she always carried a passion) then to women’s clothing.
It was during her time selling clothing for Doncaster that her creativity and business savvy merged. Becki was always looking for ways to improve things – some might say “gaudy it up” – when she discovered that she had a knack for creating accessories for the clothes she was selling…and that, often as not, people were more likely to buy the accessories as the clothes. This led to a thriving belt, jewelry, and other accessories business that grew out of the dining room table to a remodeled garage workshop to ultimately Rebecca’s Boutique on Pratt Ave, just a few doors down from Star Market (where she did much of her grocery shopping.) In the 90’s, when her business was in its heyday, her product line was featured at wholesale fashion apparel conventions in Atlanta, Las Vegas, …New York, and Dallas. It was during this period that her sister Ginger joined her in the fashion world to help with the ever-increasing demand for her wares leading to such happenings as the ever-famous (or notorious) “restaurant maître-d incident”, sleeping in the La Guardia airport, and others for which there isn’t room here to describe (“enquiring minds” will have to ask or wait for the book.)
Becki had a lifelong passion for nature, which manifested itself in a string of cats and dogs, bird feeders and bird baths, and even a clock in the kitchen that makes bird sounds at the top of every hour. She passed this passion on to her children and grandchildren, who to this day enjoy the menagerie of wildlife that appear regularly in her home’s backyard. She could often be heard remarking “Oooh, there’s another Tufted Titmouse!” This passion for feeding birds also led to a natural tension and “Cold War” between squirrels, chipmunks, and the favored birds that occasionally resulted in a “peacekeeping” action involving her husband’s pellet gun along with various squirrel “booby traps” to ensure the birds got their intended food.
As much as she was known for her work in the fashion industry, she was equally known for her service to others. Once, when her sister-in-law and her husband were in a fatal car accident in New England, she packed up her two boys, borrowed a van, and drove straight through to New Hampshire to help with caring for her in-laws only to turn around and drive back for her own mother’s (Laura Margaret Copeland) funeral. This intrinsic sense of service to others manifested itself in many different forms, from sneaking her own grandmother, Mama Johnson, off for pizza and beer (the beer was an issue for Miss Margaret…in spite of – or potentially, by then, more acutely because of – the famous muscadine punch mentioned above) to leading a Bible Study Fellowship group to driving to San Antonio to watch her most beloved granddaughters Lilly and Claire (while her son and daughter in law enjoyed a work-related trip to Hawaii) to leaving her leadership position at BSF to be available to support her son’s family as he faced a potential year-long deployment to Afghanistan. In her latter years, she gained a well-deserved reputation for her decorating Holmes Street United Methodist Church for decades. Her dedication to Service for and to others is a legacy that will remain long after everything else has passed.
This sense of service stemmed from her own upbringing and her understanding of her place in the Almighty’s realm- loving the Lord with all her mind, heart, and strength while also loving her neighbor as herself. She was a truly devout Christian, though without condemning others who held differing beliefs. She had a gentle yet unyielding soul, able to be simultaneously humble in demeanor yet elegant in appearance. She is and ever will be sorely missed as this world will be a duller and less elegant place without her, though we can now expect to arrive at a more “gaudy-ed up,” slightly whimsical – and maybe even a little quirkier – Heaven.
P.S. In lieu of flowers, we ask that y’all contribute to the Holmes St UMC Building Fund. To donate online, please go to the Holmes St UMC home page at https://holmesstreetumc.org/ , select the green “Give” box, then follow the steps on the linked page. If donating online, please select the “BUILDING FUND” under the “Main Funds” section, enter an amount, and, if you don’t mind, enter “In honor of Becki” on the comment box to the right.
Donations to Camp Sumatanga are also encouraged in honor of Becki, where her grandchildren – and many others like them – have gained so very much ground in their walk of faith. To do so, go to: https://www.sumatanga.org/donate-online.html and select the “Donate” button at the bottom of the page.
