The father and son: From orphanage bond, a family grew
The father and son: From orphanage bond, a family grew
12:00 AM CDT on Sunday, June 13, 2010
Ty Cope is a middle-aged pastor, in charge of college ministries for First Baptist Church of College Station. But in 1972, he was a mischievous little Vietnamese boy named Thang Nguyen.
He also was a bouncing shadow of John Cope.
Cope had done a Vietnam tour as an Air Force cook, and felt compelled by his faith and affection for the Vietnamese people to return as a volunteer in the Cam Ranh City Christian Orphanage.
The slow-talking, country-smart Oklahoman cooked apple fritters, drove a van and did all manner of chores. He felt a special bond with Thang.
"It just seemed like he was needing somebody, and me and him understood one another," Cope said.
After 14 months, Cope returned to the United States. When the South Vietnamese government fell in 1975, he was frantic about the orphans' fate. He learned from missionary friends Jim and Margaret Gayle that the group had made it to Fort Chaffee, Ark.
Cope went there, and had a mob-scene reunion.
"Everyone had rushed around him. I was on his backside, pulling and tugging at his back pocket," Ty Cope said.
The 69 orphans – as well as the orphanage staff and their children – were taken in by Buckner Children's Home of Dallas. John Cope quit his job and followed, Buckner hiring him as a $400-a-month cook.
The single Cope was afraid he'd never get to adopt Thang. But after two years, with the help of a lawyer and Buckner's support, he did. Cope took Thang home to Frederick, Okla. Cope's mother, Billie, served as de facto mom.
Thang would become Ty, lose most of his Vietnamese, marry his childhood sweetheart, enter ministry and have children of his own. But before going off to college, he prayed for another companion for his father.
Soon, some of the older Vietnamese who had accompanied the orphans to the United States introduced Cope to a Hispanic woman. They married and had two daughters.
The John and Ty Cope families are traveling together in Vietnam with the Cam Ranh/Buckner orphans. And for the unlikely father and son, it's like old times.
"I tagged along with him everywhere," Ty Cope said.