# Jake Copass

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{{short description|American poet}}

frame|right|Cowboy poet Jake Copass
'''Jake Copass''' (April 18, 1920 – June 8, 2006) was a cowboy [poet](/source/poet) who lived in the [Santa Ynez Valley](/source/Santa_Ynez_Valley).<ref>[http://independent.com/news/2006/mar/16/jake-copass-cowboy-poet/ The Santa Barbara Independent Jake Copass - Cowboy Poet<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref><ref>[http://syvnews.com/articles/2006/06/13/news/local/news01.txt Santa Ynez Valley News<!-- Bot generated title -->]</ref>  He had been working as a wrangler at the Alisal Guest Ranch in [Solvang, California](/source/Solvang%2C_California) since 1946.

A native of Texas, he was shocked when he saw the valley. "Green grass in winter?" he says. "I had never seen that before. So I decided to stay. This was real cowboy country back then." Copass bought and sold cattle up and down the coast and did occasional movie work over the decades.

Each couple of years, his family would visit him up at his ranch. He always kept in touch with the people he knew.

He saw an opportunity to reinforce children's value systems by talking
about honesty and the cowboy way, and helping them to understand the ethics cowboys live by. Jake recently explained, "When you're young, you never feel like you have anything to offer anyone. Then you find out your own experiences are interesting to others."

A story-telling, poetry-reading cowboy treasure, Jake Copass has performed at [cowboy poetry](/source/cowboy_poetry) gatherings all over the West. He has a book of poetry, ''It Don't Hurt to Laugh'', published by Olive Press, and a memoir entitled, ''I'll Be Satisfied''.

Copass died on June 8, 2006, following a brief illness from [leukemia](/source/leukemia). His funeral was held a week later at the Alisal Guest Ranch ([http://www.lompocrecord.com/articles/2006/06/11/news/news05.txt]).

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[http://syv-online.com/showpic.php?id=71  Information on Jake Copass] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070928223240/http://syv-online.com/showpic.php?id=71 |date=2007-09-28 }} 
*[https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0178534/bio  IMDb biography of Jake Copass]
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20070604010017/http://www.coastmagazine.com/archive/pre_dec05/travel_cowgirlbootcamp.html  Cowgirl boot camp with Copass]

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Copass, Jake}}
Category:2006 deaths
Category:American male poets
Category:Poets from California
Category:Deaths from leukemia in California
Category:1920 births
Category:Poets from Texas
Category:20th-century American poets
Category:20th-century American male writers

{{US-poet-1920s-stub}}

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Jake Copass](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Copass) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jake_Copass?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.