This is a compilation of postings from a memorial page set up for Myrna Copeland.

1. The name Myrna is of Irish and Gaelic origin and means “Beloved.”

2. Myrna on Easter 1966
“What a beautiful woman with angelic eyes.”
Teresa Doyle

5. Myrna and Don; Civil Rights march.
“Perfect Myrna picture.” Jim Baines
“The ubiquitous cigarette.” LeOtis
Duvalier
“Powerful.” Steve Jones
“Of all of the pictures, I think that this
is my favorite.” Jane DeNeefe
“This is the face that would send bread pans back to the dishwashing
station…” Jane DeNeefe
“I know “the look.” the Myrna we all know and love.” Angelah Hart

7. Myrna, Don, and Joan at the Selma-to-Montgomery march.
“Myrna’s feet had blisters that were too bad for her to stand on.
I don’t know how she walked. She was a woman of strength and
determination.” Bettye Dixie

8. Myrna was the leader of the National Democratic Party of Alabama in 1968.
She was one of the few white women who marched from Selma to
Montgomery with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and attended strategy
sessions with him in his home in Atlanta.
Myrna opened Pearly Gates in 1972, known to be the first health food store
in Huntsville.
“She had compassion for everyone,” said Verna Rizvi, the treasurer of the
Madison County Democratic Executive Committee. “She never lost the spirit
of fighting for the underdog. The goodness just oozed out of her.”

9. Mule Train in 1968 in Mississippi with Nick Gable

10. Myrna and Joan Cashin
“This is Mama and Myrna on a boat in the Bahamas. Five couples
from the Drek Set went down there for vacation. They were
activists and friends; lives completely intertwined.” Sheryll Cashin

11. I really didn’t realize how attached I was until she was gone.
RIP my friend and mentor.” Tammy Sharp
“Myrna had a way of meeting you wherever you were and helping you get
where you needed to go.”
Rob Glover
“One of the most important things that she said to me was that organizations
were not meant to last forever. If they go on and on, it means that the people
who run them are not growing.” Grisselda O’Brien
“They broke the mold with Myrna.” Cliff Griggs

12. Myrna and her parents.

13. “Mom worked at the Scottsboro
mental health clinic for a time
after this. She didn’t work in
the field too long, though.
There were more important
things, like Pearly Gates and
Civil Rights.” Jim Copeland
Jim, Sas, Myrna, and Joan when
Myrna graduated from
UAH with an MA in Psychology.

14. “Myrna was nice to me when I was only a shiftless
hippie and let me play for my dinner at Pearly Gates
Restaurant when I really needed it and I am lucky
to have shared time on earth with her.” Jeff Glover
“I’m sure she saw through any appearance of a
shiftless hippie to the amazing guy and musician
that you were and are.” Suzanne Green Kelly

15. Deanna and Myrna Copeland

16. Deanna, Jim, Don, and Spruce.
The flag piano soundboard is behind the bathroom
partition at Pearly Gates.

17. Myrna officiated many weddings and services. This is Colin and Dee Lane
Nichols ceremony in May 2003.

18. Four generations: Lily, Millie, Myrna, and Deanna.

19. …always being helpful, fun,
loving, wonderful…
Liz McCutcheon
You will be missed.
“This is how I always think of Myrna;
Full of life and that laugh.” Steve Jones
She had the BEST laugh.”
Leela DeVere

20. I love this picture. It makes me
feel like I was right there with her.
Myrna had spent her entire life striving
for racial equality. With the election of
Barrack Obama, I imagine she felt in an
instant the words spoken decades before
when Martin Luther King Jr. shared his
vision, “I have a dream.”
A dream that Myrna Copeland shared.
- Melody Evans
Kathleen Murphy’s picture of Myrna celebrating Obama’s inauguration.

21. April 18, 1938 – Dec. 13,l 2011

22. There is no death; only a crossing over into another way of living. We
always hear that people live on in the hearts of those that they touched. I
have never felt that more strongly than the first day that I scrolled
through the many posts that people had left on Myrna’s memorial page
on Facebook. I laughed at some things. I smiled at some things. And, I
shed a tear or two. A couple of times, I found myself thinking, “Wow, I
didn’t know that.” So, I started copying comments and pictures and
putting them in one place; kind of my own little memorial to honor
Myrna and what she meant to her friends, her family, Hunstville, and
even the state of Alabama. Myrna is someone who lived life to its fullest
and was not ashamed to stand up and fight against things that were
wrong. Myrna left earth having made a difference in more lives than she
will ever know.
See you on the other side, Myrna.
Love, Melody
The Times They Are A Changing, words and music by Bob Dylan
Life Uncommon, words and music by Jewel, sung by Melody Evans