Representative William F. Kopp View All Years

HONORABLE WILLIAM F. KOPP

MR. SPEAKER: Your committee, appointed to prepare suitable resolutions commemorating the life, character and public services of the late Honorable William F. Kopp of Henry county, Iowa, begs leave to submit the following:

William F. Kopp was born June 20, 1869, on a farm near Dodgeville, Des Moines county, Iowa, and passed away August 24, 1938, at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa. He was the son of John M. and Mary Kopp. His father was a veteran of the Civil War, serving in a Wisconsin regiment, and was a member of the seventeenth session of the Iowa House of Representatives.

From the rural school Mr. Kopp came to the middle Preparatory School of the Liberal Arts department of Iowa Wesleyan University, Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1885, graduating from this college with his bachelor of arts degree in 1892. In 1894 he graduated from the law department of the State University of Iowa.

On December 4, 1894, he was married to Miss Clara Regina Bird. Together they made an ideal home for nearly forty-four years. It was a home of love, hospitality, books, culture and warm friendships. Here students, who came to the campus of Iowa Wesleyan, shared the idealism and companionship of this Christian home.

He began the practice of law at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, in 1894; he served as county attorney of Henry county, Iowa, from 1895 to 1899 and was a member of the Henry county bar for forty-four years. He was postmaster at Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, from 1906 to 1914. He represented Henry county in the Iowa Legislature in the Thirty-sixth General Assembly, 1915-1917 and was elected to the Congress of the United States from the First District (1921-1933), Sixty-seventh to Seventy-second Congresses. Mr. Kopp achieved a splendid record during his years of political service, making lasting friendships while serving as legislator and representing his county in the state, and his district as Congressman from the First Congressional district. He always promoted the good of the farmers of Iowa. He was a leader in Congress during his twelve years in office. At the beginning of his second term he was made chairman of the committee to investigate expenditures of the navy, and was chairman of the labor committee from 1925 to 1930. He was chairman of the pensions committee in 1930. He rendered notable service in flood control work.

He was ever a friend of ex-service men. The Civil War Veterans knew him as a friend and the Legionnaires knew him and loved him. He marked this verse in a recent publication:

I ask not pomp nor power

Like kings, to give command;

The wealth I crave is power

To serve my fellow man.

I want to feel the hand clasps

That joys and sorrows blend;

I want to hear him saying,

“Ah, Sir, you’ve been my friend.”

A member of the Methodist Church of Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, for nearly half a century, Mr. Kopp was active in every department. For many years he was a member of the official board. He was a friend of Christian education and for thirty years was a trustee of Iowa Wesleyan College.

It is evident that three absorbing interests possessed the life of William F. Kopp—his home, his church and his country. He loved to serve others, particularly those whose lives were shadowed by sorrow and poverty. The needy and unfortunate found in him a friend. One of the gifts that endeared him to his friends was his recognition of merit in others. In his heart was a happy, joyous, witty strain which brightened the atmosphere about him.

With William F. Kopp there was a simplicity and integrity. There was always a fidelity to the highest in patriotism, justice, honor and Christianity. There was no pretense in his makeup. He never compromised with his convictions nor retreated from responsibility. Whenever a noble cause needed support he never counted the cost. He was a man of high ideals and his devotion to those ideals was constant and abiding.

Therefore, Be It Resolved, That in the passing of the Honorable William F. Kopp, the state has lost a valuable and honored citizen, and the House would tender by this resolution, its sincere sympathy to the surviving members of his family in their sorrow, and

Be It Further Resolved, That a copy of this resolution be spread upon the Journal of the House, and that the Chief Clerk be instructed to send an enrolled copy to the family of the deceased.

HARLAN C. FOSTER,

BERT E. DODDS,

ARCH W. MCFARLANE,

Committee.

Unanimously adopted, April 12, 1939.