A memorial scholarship fund created by the family of Reverend William H. Copeland Jr. A husband to Leola and a father of three — Walter, Edward and Monica — as well as the pastor to one of Kankakee County’s largest and active churches, Morning Star Baptist Church. He took up a number of social causes and injustices. He was on the forefront of any number of issues which impacted the community. And through it all, he was the key figure behind the new Morning Star Baptist Church being constructed along North Harrison Avenue in 1974 and 1975, in the heart of the neighborhood where so many of Morning Star’s membership resided. Born in Winn Parish, La., Copeland was the youngest of 14. Following high school, he earned a science degree from Missouri Western University in St. Joseph, Mo. In 1975, he was awarded an honorary doctorate of divinity degree from Morris College in Sumter, S.C. and in 1977 from McKinley Theological Seminary in Jackson, Miss. A U.S. Army veteran who served in the combat engineers from 1952-56, including 18 months in Germany, Copeland was ordained in 1964. In February 1967, Copeland became pastor of First Baptist Church in Elwood, Kan. He first arrived in Kankakee in 1971. He accepted the Morning Star pastorate in 1972. He served as Morning Star pastor until 2008 at which time he was honored as pastor emeritus.