Guy Copeland

1936 - 2025

Guy Nelson Copeland, junior, M.D., a retired Lexington, KY gynecologist and gynecologic surgeon, died December 6, 2025, in Winston-Salem, NC, his home for the past two years. He succumbed to complications from colon cancer just 17 days after the death of his wife, Marie Moore Copeland, to whom he was married 64 years. The family is planning a Celebration of Lives for Nelson and Marie in Lexington, KY in the spring. Their burial at Lexington Cemetery will follow.

Nelson was born January 6, 1936, in Shreveport, LA to Guy Nelson Copeland and Ouida Lucille Walton Copeland. His formative years were spent in Memphis, TN where he graduated from Central High School in 1954 with all-A's. His high school activities included National Honor Society, VP of the Student Council, lettering in basketball and baseball, and representing the school at Boys State and the Memphis Cotton Carnival.

Nelson attended Vanderbilt University where he was a member of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity. In 1960 he graduated from the University of Tennessee College of Medicine, where he was named to the Alpha Omega Alpha Honor Medical Society. He completed a surgical internship at Vanderbilt University Hospital in 1961 where he met a nursing student, Marie Moore of Harrodsburg, KY. They married on August 5, 1961. From 1962 to 1964 he was a Captain in the USAF Medical Corps, serving as a general medical officer. In 1964 Nelson and Marie moved to Durham, NC where he would complete a four-year residency in obstetrics and gynecology at Duke University Hospital. In 1968 Nelson and Marie, and their two young children, moved to Lexington, KY to establish Nelson's private medical practice. He retired in 1998 after 30 years of practice. He will be remembered for his long friendships with patients, detailed patient records, and meticulous surgery preparation. During his intellectual prime years his passion, secondary to his profession and family, was learning, including economics and investments classes at the University of Kentucky and an extensive personal study of diverse spiritual traditions of the world. He enjoyed sharing his favorite readings and books with family and friends.

Nelson was a diplomate of the American Board of Obstetrics and Gynecology and was a member of the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the F. Bayard Carter Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, the American Medical Association, the Kentucky Medical Association, and the Lexington Medical Society.

In retirement Nelson valued time with his wife and experiences with his children and grandchildren. He was extremely proud of the educations and achievements of all his family, especially of his wife. He was a private person. In 2023 Nelson and Marie moved to Arbor Acres Retirement Community in Winston Salem, NC to be near their daughter.

Nelson is survived by a daughter, Caren York (Greg) of High Point, NC, a son, James Copeland of Atlanta, GA, and sisters-in-law Jamie VanArsdall (Dick Billings) of Anacortes, WA, and Dixie Moore recently of Cincinnati, OH but a near-lifelong Kentuckian. Nelson was a proud and interactive grandfather to his five grandchildren, Grey York, Catherine Mace (Daniel), Charles York, Spencer Copeland (Lee-elle) and Emily Copeland, who will fondly remember their personalized monthly mailers of curated, red-lined newspaper and magazine clippings specific to each child's interests.