Terrance A. Copple

Hansen resident Lt. Col. Terrance A. Copple, 79, passed away Tuesday, February 21, 2023, at Veterans Medical Center, Grand Island, NE, after a courageous battle with pancreatic cancer.      

Services will be 2 p.m. Monday, February 27, at Butler Volland Chapel in Hastings with Pastor Jonathan Jehorek officiating. Burial with military rites by Hastings Military Honor Guard will be at rural Immanuel Lutheran Cemetery, southwest of Hastings. Visitation will be one hour before the service at the funeral home. Memorials may be given to Immanuel Lutheran Church.

Terry was born August 22, 1943, in Hastings to Russell and Velma (Druecker) Copple.  He was baptized at the First Presbyterian Church, confirmed at the First Congregational Church and was a member of the Immanuel Lutheran Church.  Terry was raised on the family farm northwest of Hastings and enjoyed all the many adventures of being a farm kid.  He attended Districts 14 and 29 elementary schools and graduated from Hastings High School in 1961. Terry married Janet Kothe on December 18, 1970.

Terrance was preceded in death by his parents; brother, Bill Copple; and two sisters-in-law, Charlene (Gingrich) Copple and Julie (Billings Relford) Copple. 

He is survived by his wife, Jan; daughter, Yvette Copple-Muhs, of Newton, KS; son, Kirk Copple, of Charleston, SC; granddaughter, Tatyanna (Brian) Hiserote, of Louisville, KY; grandson, Reuben (Morgan) Muhs, of Minneapolis, MN; great-granddaughter, Tabitha Hiserote, of Louisville; sister, Janelle Ernst, of Hastings; brothers, Bradley (Connie) Copple of Hastings and Brian (Javier) Copple of Melbourne, Australia; and several nieces and nephews. 

Terry was a life member of the NRA, Nebraska Shooting Sports Assoc., Veterans of Foreign Wars and Disabled American Veterans and a member of Blue Knights MC and Law Enforcement Alliance of America. Other interests through the years involved rifle and pistol shooting competitions, gunsmithing, owning a gun shop and serving as a Hunter Safety Instructor. He worked as a law enforcement officer for the Aurora Police Department, a guard at the South Carolina State Department of Corrections and security for the Hastings Good Samaritan Village.

At the young age of 17, Terry joined the Army (295^th Ordnance Company) before he graduated from high school and did his basic training at Ft. Ord, CA.  He then attended Hastings College and UNL (ROTC) graduating as a 2^nd Lt.  His military career specializing in ordnance and munitions of all types, including nuclear weapons, took him to Aberdeen Proving Ground, MD; Redstone Arsenal, AL; Ft. Bragg, NC; Sandia Base, NM; and then Vietnam, where he completed five campaigns and was commissioned Cpt. while at HQ II Field Force at the Plantation and awarded two Bronze Stars. He was then stationed at Ft. Knox, KY, until he went to Individual Ready Reserve. In 1982, he was promoted to Major and spent time in Alexandria, VA, to study changes to improve fighting capabilities, followed by a stint at Ft. Leavenworth, KS. It was then off to Ft. Lee, VA, to assist in the organization, preparation and execution of the ammunition portion of LogX. LogX was the largest logistical exercise in the world and included the armed forces of ten nations and all US armed forces. His last military service was spent at the Pentagon, where he was commissioned as a Lt. Colonel and assisted with Operation Desert Shield and Desert Storm. Terry retired from active military service in 1992. 

When recently asked what had been his favorite job and where, he replied without hesitation, “Army, Viet Nam.” May God bless Terry and all our Veterans.