Early Years: The Pain of Alcoholism

In 1941, when Willa Copland was four, she remembers playing at the end of the road at the cattle farm her father worked at in Yettem, Calif. This is her earliest memory in a childhood that was fragmented and difficult.

Willa was the fourth of six children. Her father spent his whole life working. His own father had died when he was young, so he had to stop school in the fourth grade and work to support his mother and siblings. He worked on the white-faced cattle ranch, but he lived for his wine. His alcoholism made life tough for his children, though his anger and meanness were particularly directed toward their mother. Willa said that for her dad it was, “Do as I say, not as I do.” He taught them right from wrong, but did not show it. Willa has one pleasant memory of her dad, when he would take them to school two miles away and let her steer the truck. Besides that, she mostly looked out for her mother and was always trying to be kind to her to make up for her dad’s hurtfulness.

Willa’s mother was raised by her own grandmother in the Pentecostal church. Willa desired to go to church, but Willa’s father never allowed it. Willa’s mother instilled in Willa the desire to be a Christian and would often say, “You will never be happy unless you know the Lord, marry a Christian, and have a Christian home.” Sometimes Willa was allowed to go to Sunday school at a Baptist church nearby. When she could, she listened to a Christian kid’s radio station, and she gave her life to the Lord when she was eight.

Willa’s mother talked about how awful drinking was, and it put a desire into Willa to never touch alcohol. Because of the alcoholism and anger, Willa’s mom would often leave the ranch for a couple months with the children and go to the town of Ivanhoe, Calif. This would help shape her father up, and he would ask the children to talk their mom into moving back. Willa remembers as a young girl telling her father, “Dad, just quit drinking and she will come back.” At times, her dad would stop drinking, her mother would move back, he would drink again, and she would leave. This cycle happened many times, partly because Willa’s mom did not believe in divorce. The children stayed with their mom and were often taken out of school to move or to work. Willa’s mom had to work at a vegetable packing plant to help make enough for the family to survive. Often, the children also had to contribute to the family income by working.

Willa graduated from eighth grade, but was only able to finish her sophomore year of high school because she needed to work. She said, “Growing up, that is all we knew how to do was work. I did not want to, but you do what you have to do.”

Transition from One Life to Another

A month before turning 18, while Willa was working in a turkey packing plant, a young Bill Copland asked her on a date. He would come from the other side of the plant just to stare at Willa. Willa was so nervous that she said no to the date, but later told an older woman who worked there that she did want to go; so they sent a note to Bill. The two went bowling on their first date in the fall of 1954 and were married by May 1955. She said that right away Bill took her to church with him and to prayer meetings at Fresno, Calif., RPC.

Willa had never been to church before, except for the occasional Sunday school. She desired to go and said to her sister, “I think if I stand up and sit down, I got it made with the church.” Soon Willa became a member of the RPCNA and was able, by God’s grace, to bring all of her sisters to church, too. Willa said the older women at the church greatly influenced her walk with the Lord and her desire to join the church.

After Willa married, she never had to work outside the home. Bill wanted her to stop, and she was glad to. She said, “Bill was always so good to me. He is a wonderful, Christian guy that took care of me. He was real kind, and kind to all my sisters, too—still is.” When they met, Bill was working in an auto shop but later became a linoleum layer. He worked six days a week and rarely had a vacation, but Willa said he never complained. They did struggle financially at times, but God always provided.

Willa was able to finish high school when her fourth baby, Robert, was one. For one year, she took three night classes per week. She graduated top of her class and was the class speaker.

The Joy of Church Life

After meeting Bill, Willa said that their life revolved around the church. They went to service and prayer meetings and often hosted people at their house. Their only vacations were church family camp (Bill would join on the weekends). Willa was on the Christian education committee, which would pick books for Sunday school. She taught every age of Sunday school over the years. She was part of the missionary meetings, where once a month they would gather in someone’s home to go over the missions reports that they received in a book. For a time, Willa and Bill were the youth sponsors. Willa was also president of the women’s presbyterial, which was an annual meeting of the women of the presbytery to hear speakers and to raise money among themselves for missions. She met many women through this and says she was particularly blessed in her life by these friendships.

Because of her upbringing with an alcoholic father and seeing firsthand the pain that drunkenness can bring, Willa spent some time as president of the White Ribbon Temperance Society in the 1960s. These meetings or events would consist of helping people take vows of temperance, show-ing their commitment to not drinking by wearing a white ribbon around their wrist.

Two Lessons

Two things particularly struck me as I listened to Willa’s story. The first is the generations of faithful women sharing the gospel in their homes. Her great-grandmother shared the gospel with her mother, who continued to hold fast to the Lord and share Him with her children despite personal persecution from her husband. Today in Fresno RPC, you can look around and see Willa’s daughter, two granddaughters, and seven great-grandchildren worshiping the Lord together, four generations in one church! Willa said to me that “I do not understand predestination, but I have seen it in my life, and I believe it. God had a hand in my life since I was little. He did. And He allowed me to go to church when I could.”

The second thing that struck me is how the church permeated her life. Because Willa was prevented from attending church during her childhood, she has never grown tired of her dearly loved church and the beautiful privilege of attending and serving as much as God wills. Willa devoted herself to the people and the spreading of the Word through teaching, hospitality, committee work, volunteering to raise money for missions, and faithfully raising her own children in the church. Even when the church had no pastor for eight years, Willa and Bill continued to be faithful members. The pattern of her life demonstrated her deep longing to be near the house of God, to be raised heavenward with the saints as often as possible in this life.

Her Life Now

I asked Willa how she saw her role in the church now. She said she wants to continue to show up to as many things as she can, and she wants to be an encourager. From our first pastoral candidating visit, to this day, Willa has been a great encouragement to Jonathan and me. She checks in with us and is always expressing her thankfulness that we are part of her church family. This gift of encouragement has been passed down to her children and grandchildren, who have all continued to be a great source of welcome and support to our family.

Willa and Bill particularly love Philippians 1:6, “Being confident of this very thing, that he who began a good work in you will complete it in the day of Christ.” They are able to look back and resolutely see the faithfulness of Christ, which gives them strength to approach their final days in confidence of His abiding work.

It is a blessing to learn from women of faith. On the podcast Oaks of Righteousness, there are more stories to listen to. If there are women in your life you would like to highlight, please send an email to .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).