Dedicated and Thankful, Jeff Coppage Retires

Jeff Coppage began his career at Choptank Electric Cooperative in August 2001 as a Meter Reader. He began his journey as a lineman when he started his apprenticeship in 2005. After three years as an Apprentice Lineman, Jeff was promoted to Journeyman Lineman in 2008 and held that position for four years. In 2012, Jeff was promoted to Serviceman and has held that position for the last 12 years. In his position as a Serviceman, Jeff was responsible for taking the initial calls for outages in his assigned area, troubleshooting problems, making repairs and calling more crews out for additional help if needed. His favorite part of his career as a lineman for Choptank was working for and helping the people in his community. Jeff states, “We understand the inconvenience outages bring to our members, many who are friends and family. We try our best to restore power in a timely manner, many times under bad conditions.” Jeff also enjoyed working and assisting other cooperatives after large storms, particularly Georgia and Alabama in recent years. “By the time you get there, those people have been out for days. It’s a great feeling when you can help them get some normalcy back by restoring power,” says Jeff.

When asked what he learned or would take away from his career at Choptank Electric, Jeff replied he has made some good friends here, and will miss seeing the guys and the brotherhood that linemen share when things get tough. He would like to thank everyone at Choptank, from his managers, linemen trainers and all the linemen that he has worked with over the years. “Because of you all, I am walking out of here the same way I walked in, and that is all you can ask for in this line of work. This job was life changing for me and my family, and I am truly grateful for having it,” says Jeff.

Jeff’s last day with the Cooperative was May 31st. In his retirement, he is looking forward to spending more time with his wife and family, hopefully fishing, crabbing and hunting. He hopes to spend more time with his three grandsons and is looking forward to meeting his first granddaughter, expected to arrive in September.