Published in the New River Current on February 3, 2006

By Donna Alvis-Banks

Jack Copenhaver could have bought himself a fancy car, but he didn't.

He drove an old pickup truck. He could have afforded trips to exotic places, but he stayed close to Blacksburg.

When he still was driving, he took the old pickup to town to shop for groceries and to worship at Blacksburg United Methodist Church.

But late in October 2004 -- when he auctioned off his nice brick home, the four acres of land that surrounded it, his heated barn-workshop combo and all of his personal property -- he parked the old truck in front of Showalter Center at Blacksburg's Warm Hearth Village.

Occasionally, he would start the engine just to keep the battery charged, but he no longer drove himself into town.

Copenhaver, who gave 39 years of service to Virginia Tech's animal science department as a farm superintendent and associate professor, was 83 when he died in April after suffering a heart attack.

Earlier this week, the Community Foundation of the New River Valley learned that Copenhaver bequeathed it more than $700,000 from his estate.

The money will be used to fund scholarships for Virginia Tech animal science students and to provide a source of income that will help local nonprofit organizations supported by the foundation.

Andy Morikawa, who heads up the 11-year-old foundation, said Copenhaver's bequest is the largest to date.

"Jack's gift is so much in keeping with his reputation as a generous man with a strong and abiding sense of thrift and common sense," he noted.

"By saving and conserving, he was able to leave this legacy that stands to promote things he served in a long and distinguished career -- he was an educator and caretaker of his community's resources."

The second of his family's five children, Jackson Spencer Copenhaver moved to Blacksburg from Tazewell County's Pounding Mill in 1937 after his father died. He earned his undergraduate degree from Virginia Tech in animal science in 1942 and was hired to manage two of the university's purebred Angus farms.

He went on to join the faculty as an associate professor and became superintendent of livestock.

His older brother, 85-year-old Barns Copenhaver, said Jack was only 15 when their father died.

"Jack and I worked like men," he said. "Mother lived with Jack and he took care of her until her death."

Jack Copenhaver never married or had children. He was a dedicated teacher and worker who lived a frugal life.

"He didn't spend," his brother said. "He put his money in things where it would get a return on it."

Jack Copenhaver's friend Betty Greene said she credits him with getting her a job as a secretary at the university.

"He used his head. He was a very special person," Greene said. "He was frugal with things for himself but not for others. He was always thinking of others -- in a quiet way.

"He was so modest, he would never want anyone to brag on him, but he certainly deserved recognition," she said.

Greene, who worked in Copenhaver's office from 1980 to 1981, spoke to him on a daily basis in the last years of his life. She said his plan to leave the biggest portion of his estate to the Community Foundation was undoubtedly based on his belief that it would be used wisely.

Lisa Garcia, the foundation's development director, said the organization was unaware of Copenhaver's plan.

"He was a donor to the Community Foundation before his death," Garcia said. "He had started an endowment here.

"We were thrilled and very grateful that he would choose the Community Foundation to trust his legacy. We're really excited. It will certainly improve the flexibility of the board with its grantmaking."

Copenhaver's gift brings the foundation's total assets raised to nearly $4 million. The organization awarded its first three $500 grants in 1997 and has been able to increase the amounts and number of nonprofit organizations served each year since.

In 2004, more than $106,000 was awarded to 63 recipients. Awards ranged from $500 to CHIP of the New River Valley for parenting classes in Floyd County to $2,000 to the Emergency Needs Task Force of Pulaski County for services to families in crisis. Garcia said gifts such as Copenhaver's give encouragement, as well as financial gains.

"He did something pretty amazing," she said.

To Copenhaver's family and friends, his generosity was pretty typical.

Barns Copenhaver said his brother always cared about Virginia Tech and the community surrounding it. The money he saved represented his wishes.

"I hope it does a lot of good," Barns Copenhaver said, "and helps a bunch of students."