Woman donates contents of parents' house for fire relief

Barbara Copeland is 88 years old, suffers from diabetes, is fitted with a pacemaker for her heart and admits she's fighting the effects of old age. Few likely would object if she took it easy to take care of herself.

However, just last month, she and other family members emptied a lakeside house in Logan owned by her deceased mother and father and hauled the furniture, kitchen appliances, utensils, clothing, artwork and other items in two livestock trailers to a Las Vegas organization that's aiding area people displaced by wildfires and, more recently, floods.

Copeland, who lives just across the Quay County line near Amistad, said a neighbor of hers heard about her donation and was inspired to do the same.

"By golly, this might encourage other people to help out for folks that have lost everything," Copeland said in a phone interview last week.

"I felt so sorry for those folks up there. Yeah, they're not right here, but they're our neighbors in New Mexico."

Copeland's parents, Bill and Rose Mullins, spent much of their lives in Fort Sumner but moved to Logan late in their lives. Bill died of a stroke, and Rose died in 1993. Copeland admitted little had been done with the house for almost 30 years since her mother's death.

This year, Copeland saw news reports about wildfires destroying families' homes in nearby San Miguel and Mora counties and decided to do something. She talked to relatives about her idea, and she finally decided give the contents of her parents' house to the Neighbor Helping Neighbors Fire Relief organization.

Copeland admitted she initially was hesitant about giving away that held so much sentimental value.

"I just felt like I had to do it," she said.

"I just want mother and dad to get the glory from it," she added, her voice cracking from emotion.

Copeland said a few household items, such as a clothes washer, were sold shortly before. More than $1,000 of those proceeds also was given to Neighbors Helping Neighbors.

She said "the biggest gift" when the trailers were being loaded came from two local teenagers. She said she was supposed pay them $10 each for helping load.

"They realized what we were doing and donated their time," Copeland said. "That was the most precious gift we got."

Copeland said she noticed how big the need was for furnishings as they were unloading the trailers in Las Vegas.

"There were people coming in before we got completely unloaded and taking out some of the stuff we delivered," she said. "They were so happy to get things."

Janna Lopez, lead volunteer for Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fire Relief based at New Mexico Highlands University, said the organization was "blessed" by Copeland's donation.

"Some of the things she donated, they were antiques," Lopez said in a phone interview. "They were things you don't find nowadays but were still workable, still usable.

"This sweet, 88-year-old woman warmed my heart. I was taken aback; this woman was practically giving away an entire house."

Lopez said wildfires have destroyed about 500 homes in the region, and the crisis is not over.

"The floods are here, and we've got people being rescued from their homes still," she said. "We're having people displaced again. People still are living in motels, living with relatives. Some are camping. This disaster is not going away."

Those who wish to help Neighbors Helping Neighbors Fire Relief can call Lopez at (505) 429-2062. The organization also can be found on Facebook.

Copeland holds deep family ties to Quay County. The Tom Jennings family, on her mother's side, moved from Oklahoma to be homesteaders here more than a century ago. Her mother was born in the Quay Valley in 1906. Her uncle for a time was a sheriff of Quay County. Many of her relatives are buried in Quay Cemetery.

Copeland said a big part of her motivation to make that donation to fire-ravaged families was due to a piece of family lore.

"My mother's pioneer home burned to the ground when she was 9 year old," she explained. "The neighbors chipped in and gave the best they could; everybody was short of everything in those days. "She never forgot that, and I never did either because she would remind me of it."

Copeland, whose husband Clifford died at age 89 in November, said her spouse would have supported her donating her parents' belongings.

"But my mother would have been first in line."

Ron Warnick is the senior writer for the Quay County Sun. Contact him at

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