Athalia H Cope

Athalia H. Cope
Athalia Cope passed away peacefully on February 22 at the age of 83. Born in High
Point North Carolina just weeks before the Japanese bombed the Navy fleet at Pearl
Harbor.

Athalia often spoke about growing up among the Quaker families in High Point who
were farmers and merchants. She talked about the discussions in the Sunday Meeting
and had fond memories of lying on the broad back of a plow horse and learning Latin
grammar from the farmer while he was plowing his field.

After her father died, when Athalia was about 10, her mother bought a house in Orlando
close to where two aunts were already living. She attended Cherokee Jr. High and then
Boone High School where she actively participated in choral and drama classes. She
entered Rollins College majoring in Music and Psychology. In the music department
she studied violin and voice, then auditioned and joined the Bach Festival Choir. She
remained a member of the choir for 63 years until the 2023-24 season. Over the years
she sang many concerts with some solo appearances and several trips to Europe.

After college, Athalia worked for the School System in Kissimmee teaching music and
humanities to high school students. While there, she staged the first of many school
theatrical productions – the Gilbert and Sullivan Operetta, “Ruddigore.” About this time
she married.

When the Air Force moved the couple to Biloxi, Mississippi, Athalia took a job with
D’Iberville High School. She was the only teacher on the staff who had taught in an
integrated school, so the Superintendent appointed her as the county representative to
a group planning and executing the integration of black and white students into the
same schools. This required monthly trips to the state capital in Jackson, MS. She was
frequently asked the best approach for teaching black students; she kept saying that
they should be taught in the same way white students are taught.

When the Air Force moved her husband to the Aleutian Islands, Athalia returned to
Orlando. That allowed her to take a job at Edgewater High School as music teacher
with a promise of a move to a position as guidance counselor, an opening which come
up quickly. She loved that job and stayed with it until retirement.

Throughout her school career, Athalia worked part time as a church musician; at an
Episcopal church in Kissimmee, at Zion Lutheran and Pine Hills Methodist. For over
twenty years she was organist and choir director at St Andrews Catholic Church in Pine
Hills.

Athalia was outspoken and expressed her opinion freely and vigorously, but not always
tactfully. She always had a book, and because she read constantly and widely, she
could speak with authority on many topics. She gave advice freely and often with true
insight.

IDignity became a passion for Athalia. She worked with clients who needed to get
identification documents and became expert in obtaining birth certificates from all over
the United States. She sometimes used her fluent German to assist clients who had
been born in Germany.

The true measure of Athalia’s life is found in the lives of her students. She was often
able to guide them to the changes in their lives which would improve their success. For
years after she retired, she would be hailed by a former students proudly telling her
about their recent accomplishments; even being greeted by cries of “Mrs. Cope!” while
entering the Tower of London.

She had a strong faith in God and felt that many times he spoke personally to her.
When a student had a problem which left her not knowing what to say, she reported that
she would let go and allow God to speak through her. In those times her wisdom could
be profound. In June, Athalia suffered a stroke from which she never recovered and her
life faded. She will be missed; "Well done good and faithful servant.";
___________________________________

Athalia is survived by Robert Cope, her husband of 54 years. In lieu of flowers, gifts to
IDignity or to the Bach Festival Society of Winter Park would honor Athalia best.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Athalia H Cope, please visit our floral store.