Cortez James Copher of the Sulphur Springs Community in Montgomery County was selected by the Alpha Kappa Chapter of the Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for the prestigious honor of membership.
Upon her induction on October. 7, at the Mena Middle School by Krystal Thrailkill, President, Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs at the U of A Rich Mountain in Mena, she became a part of approximately 90,000 of the world’s most respected women educators in 18 countries impacting education worldwide.
Cortez began her education in the Norman School District, graduating in 1956 as valedictorian. With a full scholarship made possible through her out- standing 4-H Club work, being named the Arkansas 4-H Club State Achieve- ment Girl in 1955, and first girl to win the Arkansas and National 4-H Club Forestry Award in 1956, she graduated from Arkansas State Teachers College (UCA) in 1959. There she was in the ASTC honors club, “Royal Rooters,” and chosen for “Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities.”
Cortez began her teaching career in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma as a physical education and dance teacher while coaching individual sports, swimming, and diving. Following her husband, Ernest Copher, a graduate of Mena High School and UCA who became an Air Force Pilot, and later a Boeing Test Pilot, she taught in six different states, taught at 13 different schools and universities, became a Water Safety Instructor and Author Murray Dance Instructor, attended 12 colleges and universities , and earned two masters degrees – one from the Oklahoma University and the other from Central Missouri University.
Cortez taught over 45 years before retiring in 2009. The last 21, she taught American and Kansas History in Derby Middle School, Derby Kansas. While teaching 25 years in Kansas, Cortez was chosen by the Truman Presidential Library to attend American History Seminars, and was also chosen by the Kansas Historical Society to study Kansas History at the Kansas Museum of History during the summers.
Currently, she is a member of The Daughters of the American Revolution and Regent of the James K. Polk Chapter DAR in the Mena area. Cortez is also a Polk County Master Gardner, and member of the United Daughters of the Confederacy. She and husband own and operate Hickory Ridge Ranch, raising red Limousine cattle. They have two sons, Todd Andrew Copher, a University of Arkansas graduate, and Colonel James Allen Copher, an Air Force Academy graduate. Cortez’s parents were Annie and Albert James of the Sulphur Springs Community.
