Private immediate family services, due to the Covid-19 outbreak, for Ms. Lola Mae Penn Copeland McGraw, will be held on Saturday, July 11, 2020 at Bobbitt Cemetery in Dyer, TN.
Lola Mae Penn Copeland McGraw was born in Muncie Indiana on May 20, 1937, to Ioda and George Penn. She was the youngest of 10 children born to this union. Her Mother, Ioda Penn, passed away when she was five-years-old.
After her mother Ioda passed away, she was raised in Humboldt, Tenn., by her aunt Louetta Mims and uncle C.H. Mims and by her aunt Nelda Williams and uncle C.H. Williams.
Lola graduated from Stigall High School in Humboldt, where she was very active as a cheerleader, majorette, and a basketball player. While she was cheering at a basketball game in Trenton, Tenn., she met her first husband, Billie Copeland. To that union was born their only child, Noral.
Lola attended Lane College in Jackson, Tenn., where she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in 1968. She pursued her career as a teacher in Kansas City, Kan., where she taught kindergarten students for several years. She loved her vocation and after her retirement she continued to babysit children and pass on her love for learning.
Lola was a spiritual woman whose faith was important to her. She practiced her faith as a member of St. Peter C.M.E. in Kansas City, Kan., and East Mount Zion Baptist Church in Cleveland. Once she could no longer attend church, Lola looked forward to having communion and prayer with East Mount Zion deacons who visited her at Eliza Bryant Home.
Through the years Lola had many hobbies, including traveling, cooking, playing bid whist, watching soap operas, volunteering, arts, and crafts, and talking. She never met a stranger and will always be remembered for having a sunny disposition.
On Monday April 27, 2020, Lola departed this life having fought a good fight. She leaves to cherish her memory her son Noral (April); her beloved granddaughters Siobhan Clark (Damon) and Camille Sinclaire; her great-grandchildren Yvonne, Jerel and Catherine Sledge; her brother Col. William H. Penn U.S. Army ret.(Mary); sister-in-law Ondra Penn (Charles Penn deceased) and a host of nieces, nephews and friends. Later in life, Lola met and married Moses McGraw, who preceded her death in 1983.
