When Hamilton County Mayor Jim Coppinger announced he would not run for re-election next year, the news left some folks from Harrison to Hixson stunned.
Nina Coppinger, Jim's wife for the past 16-plus years and the first lady of the county for the past 11, was not among them.
"The day he announced, he was like a new person," Nina Coppinger said Monday. "You could really tell there was so much stress gone from the man. He won't look back. The thing about Jim is he never wants to disappoint anyone, and a lot of very loyal supporters kept encouraging him to run or change his mind and run.
"It was hard for him, but we are all good now, and ready for the next chapter."
The next chapter for the Coppingers can't be written until next year. But the previous chapters are required reading.
Coppinger was sworn into office on the morning of Jan. 11, 2011. The Coppingers' granddaughter Avery was born later that day. The convergence of the new responsibility of being county mayor and the reminder of family on the same day was not lost on Nina Coppinger.
"We'll always remember that day - for obvious reasons," she said. "And the funny thing is that Jim always considered 11 to be his lucky number, even when he wore it for the Hixson [High] football team. It was on the 11th in 2011, and next year, he will have served 11 years."
There were high times and low, and the day-to-day challenges of serving a county this size in these times are hard to describe.
They range from the mundane - when asked how many "rubber chicken" dinners she had attended in these soon-to-be 11 years. Nina said, "Easily 1,100. But at times it felt like 11,000." - to the surreal - from the July 16, 2015, terror attacks to the COVID-19 pandemic to the struggles with schools funding, the challenges have been many.
But all the above pales in comparison to the quick answer Nina Coppinger gave to a question asking what the lowest point was for the Coppingers.
"The Woodmore bus crash," Nina Coppinger said somberly. "Woodmore made us all stop. We were numb. I'll never forget when he called me that day and told me. He sounded different than I had ever heard him. Jim's usually light-hearted, and 'Whatever whatever,' but that was different on every level.
"There are not words. That impacted him the most, even as a former firefighter who had seen a lot of things, but Woodmore was more than all of those, too."
We all remember the low points more than the highs. That's human nature. But the high points outnumber the lows, for sure, Nina Coppinger insisted.
The past 18 months of COVID-19 and the controversies it created can't change that. Even if the past 18 months were the turning point for the mayor's decision to step aside, according to his wife.
"I knew it was time after 2020, and I would see him come home and not have time to eat," Nina Coppinger said. "There was nothing left of him at the end of the day. I saw how tired he was and used up he was at home."
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Still, Nina Coppinger knew it was not an easy call for her husband.
"He struggled with the decision because he feels so responsible for this county and worked so hard to get it where it is, fiscally, and so much he still wanted to get done - McDonald Farm, the Technical School, so many things," she said. " But there will always be unfinished projects moving forward, and I told him you can't base it on that."
Still, the roller coaster was not without a multitude of thrills over the past decade-plus. And Nina's fond memories far outnumber the negative ones.
"Once you make it through the campaign - that's hard - then enjoy the ride," Nina offered as advice to whoever succeeds Jim in office. "There are so many opportunities to see things you've never seen and meet people you have never met. To grow and discover great things and people in this great county and make a difference.
"I don't know if I would have changed a thing."
Well, other than fewer rubber chicken dinners, maybe.
Contact Jay Greeson at jgreeson@timesfreepress.com.
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Jay Greeson