Barry Fore Copenhaver
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Barry Fore Copenhaver, age 81, passed away peacefully on Monday, April 19, 2021. He was born in Corpus Christi, Texas. He married the late Judy Jacob on November 24, 1965 at the First Presbyterian Church in Cuero, Texas. They enjoyed 50 years of marriage before her passing in 2018.
Barry graduated from Cuero High School in 1958. He was a member of the 1957 Football District Championship Team and the 1958 Baseball National Championship and was inducted into the Gobbler Hall of Fame in 2014.
Copenhaver went on to attend college at Texas A&I earning a Bachelor's Degree in Education. He was a walk-on to the 1958 football season that earned him a scholarship. Barry was inducted in the Texas A&I Hall of Fame in 1984 for his personal contributions to the football program and again in 2009 for being a member of the 1959 National Championship Team.
Barry coached throughout South Texas from 1963-1974. In 1974, he was recruited by the University of Monterrey TEC in Monterrey, Mexico as the Offensive Coordinator. He was hired as the Head Coach the following year were he led the Borregos Salvajes to five National Championships (1974, 1975, 1976, 1982 and 1983). As the Head Coach to the Borregos Salvajes, Barry was inducted into the TEC's Hall of Fame in 2001 and in 2015 to Mexico's National Hall of Fame.
He retired from coaching in 1986 and joined the U.S Foreign Service where he received many Honor Awards for his service and dedication to his country. He and his wife, Judy, served in many hardship assignments from a civil war torn Monrovia, Liberia where they were evacuated via U.S. military helicopter to an assignment in Lahore, Pakistan at the height of the 1991 Gulf War. They served in eight different countries (Panama, Germany, Pakistan (twice), Liberia, Sierra Leon, Mexico, Equatorial Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo) during their 20+ years of government service. Barry retired from the U.S. Government in September 2005.
Barry is survived by his three children, Leah Lynne Copenhaver, Scott Wade Copenhaver and wife, Ineke, and sons Carson, Justin and Max and Jill Copenhaver Trevino and husband, Lonnie and daughter Maya. Barry had an uncanny ability to reach people in a deep positive way and meant so much to so many. He will be missed by all that knew him.
A memorial service will be held Saturday, May 1, 2021, 2 p.m., at First Presbyterian Church Pavilion with Pastor Bill Cotman officiating.
In lieu of flowers the family requests donations be made in his honor to the Robert W. Post Memorial Scholarship Fund. Memorials can be made at the Freund Funeral Home or mailed to P.O. Box 110, Cuero, TX 77954.
You may sign the guestbook or send condolences at www.freundfuneralhome.com.
Freund Funeral Home, 361-275-2343.