The V. Rev. Fr. Joseph Copeland serves as the Rector of Holy Cross Orthodox Church located in Yakima, Washington. Since joining the Orthodox Church in 1987 as part of the Evangelical Orthodox Church, Fr. Joseph has been devotedly guiding and leading his congregation on the path of Orthodoxy. Together with his wife Khouria Sophia, they have four grown children: Makrina, who is married to Fr. Michael Shanbour and is a physician, and they have one child; Thomas, who is a Reader and optometrist, married to Paraskevi, and they have ten children; Andrea, married to Pantleimon, and they have three children; and Pelagia, who is married to Fr. Gregory Edwards and they have four children. Fr. Joseph spent his formative years in Maple Valley, Washington, a rural area near Seattle. After graduating from high school in 1966, he pursued his studies at the University of Washington. In 1968, he married his high school sweetheart Denise (Sophia), and both of them became teachers in the Seattle area after completing their university education. In 1974, following the birth of their first child, they embarked on the journey of purchasing and operating an apple orchard in the Yakima Valley of Eastern Washington, accompanied by the Fr. Mel Gimmaka family, who would later join them in their journey to Orthodoxy.