Joe Ellis Coppedge

Joe Ellis Coppedge, 86, passed away Wednesday, March 13, 2019 at his home in Eagar. He was born December 3, 1932 in Yuma, Arizona, the son of Walter Homer Coppedge and Effie Katie Lee Finch Coppedge.

Joe loved his wife of 66 years and he loved his family including his 18 grandchildren and 40 great-grandchildren and 1 great, great grandchild.

Joe was proud of his service as a United States Marine and to the day of his death he sported a Marine emblem on his pickup; once a Marine always a Marine. Joe loved to fish and he spent many happy times with his wife fishing at Lake Powell, San Carlos and Roosevelt. His favorite place was on the lake with a fishing pole in his hands and up to the end his conversations included memories of fishing trips taken and his desire to go fishing “just one more time”.

When Joe was in the Marine Corps stationed in Camp Pendleton he was invited to a church social for enlisted men at the home of his future bride Flo McBeth. They were married three months later just before he went to Korea. When Joe got out of the Marines in 1954 he went to work in an auto body shop in the San Diego area. In 1956 he moved to Hobbs, New Mexico and in 1962 a newspaper advertising a body shop for rent at Becker Motors in Springerville brought him to Arizona. Over the years Joe owned auto body shops in Springerville, Show Low and Whiteriver and finally retired at the age of 70. In the 1960’s Joe struck up a friendship with a fisheries biologist and was privileged to assist in clearing the non-native trout out of the streams flowing into the soon to be formed Christmas Tree Lake when the Apache trout was brought back from the endangered list.

Joe also loved to garden and when the garden produced more than he and Flo could eat, he would place a wheelbarrow loaded with vegetables on the road in front of the house to give to anyone who wanted it.

Joe is survived by his wife, Flo Coppedge, Eagar; sons, Kirby (Julie) Coppedge, Show Low; James (June Carter) Coppedge, Springerville; Danny (Marilyn) Coppedge, Eagar; Tim Coppedge, Glendale; brother, Harold Coppedge, Texas; 18 grandchildren, 40 great grandchildren and 1 great, great grandchild.

He was preceded in death by eight of his older siblings.

Memorial Services will be held Saturday, April 6, 2019 at 10:00 a.m. at the First Southern Baptist Church, Springerville.