Longtime Middletown nurse remembered for impact on patients

Coppock, a 1982 Middletown High School graduate, was 58.

Ernie Coppock was asked what he has learned about his brother in the days after his death.

“You are bringing up some emotions,” Coppock, 72, said after a long pause on the phone. “Now we realize how good a nurse he was and how concerned he was about other peoples’ health care.”

Coppock worked as a nurse for 30 years at Atrium Medical Center, Middletown Regional Hospital and Davita Dialysis Center.

Betsy Waddell worked in staff resources at Middletown Regional Hospital when she interviewed, then hired Coppock. She called him “an excellent nurse” who was well liked by his co-workers.

When Coppock left the hospital, he and Waddell lost contact until two years ago. Since then, they talked several times a day, she said.

“He liked to talk,” she said with a laugh. “We knew a lot of the same people. I have missed talking to him.”

He also was active in the theater.

Coppock’s dream was to “make it big on Broadway,” his brother said. When those dreams never materialized, Coppock moved back to Middletown. He also was in a cast at Kings Island and performed professionally on stage, his brother said.

He was on the Class of 1982 MHS Reunion Committee and was looking forward to seeing all of his classmates, his brother said.

Coppock was born in Middletown on Nov. 23, 1963, the day after President John F. Kennedy, the 35th president of the United States, was assassinated in Dallas, Texas, while riding in a presidential motorcade through Dealey Plaza.

The stress caused by Kennedy’s death caused Coppock’s mother to go into labor a few weeks early, Ernie Coppock said.

Coppock is survived by his mother, Ruth Imfeld of Middletown; three brothers Ernie Coppock of Apex, N.C., Randy (Barbara) Coppock of Middletown, and Daryl (Laura) Coppock of Hamilton. He was preceded in death by his stepfather, Charles Imfeld.

Visitation will be held from 6-8 p.m. today at the Herr-Riggs Funeral Home, 210 S. Main St., Middletown. Services will be held at 10 a.m. Thursday at Woodside Chapel with the Rev. Michelle Terry officiating followed by interment at Woodside Cemetery.