Patricia Drake Cople, Walla Walla University alumna, has received a 2025 Junia Award from the Association of Adventist Women, which was awarded during the 62nd General Conference Session in St. Louis, Missouri. The award acknowledges women who are breaking new ground, active in their church, or serving as leaders.
In 1958, Cople became the first woman to graduate from WWU’s Edward F. Cross School of Engineering, earning an architectural engineering degree. She was later named Walla Walla University’s Alumna of the Year in 1988.
“Engineering students were recognized on the campus because the fellas all wore their slide rules on their belts,” she recalled. “But I couldn’t wear pants because women had to wear dresses.” In addition to carrying her heavy slide rule, Cople also remembers hauling survey equipment out to their job sites for a class taught by Edward Cross.
Her first engineering job was with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Walla Walla District, which helped with her tuition.
“The Corps of Engineers hired engineering students to work during vacation, so we were getting hours that accumulated towards our civil service time. By the time I graduated, I had a full year’s worth of civil service time, and they would send me any place they had a district office.”
Cople moved to Los Angeles, California, for an 18-month rotational training program with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, where she was assigned to a coordination unit. After completing the program, she relocated to Chicago, Illinois, for her next assignment. In 1961, she married her husband, Ron.
In 1968, Cople transferred to Washington, D.C., to join the U.S. Air Force staff. There, she developed innovative methods for designing construction contracts with a focus on reducing cost overruns. She also created a comprehensive construction management plan that is still used in all large Air Force construction projects.
“There was an advantage to being a woman in a man’s field. In those days, if I was in a briefing with men in the military, the people who were being briefed recognized me by name, and they knew where I was from. But all the men were just a blur in their eyes,” said Cople.
Cople went on to become the first civilian woman named Chief of the Air Force Construction Branch. In that role, her work took her to major military installations across the United States and in Europe.
After completing a year of graduate study in industrial and labor relations at Cornell University, Cople was hired as associate director of construction in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon. In that role, she championed quality and excellence in military design and construction.
Cople retired in 1994 but soon accepted a position with a private international engineering firm. One of her most rewarding assignments was serving on the consultant team for the construction of the metro system in Ankara, Turkey. In addition to her engineering work, she also served on the Board of Directors for Washington Adventist Hospital.
Today, Cople remains active in both her hobbies and her community. She’s a member of an antique car club and has restored several classics, including a 1941 Buick, a 1962 Chevrolet Corvette, and a 1962 Buick Skylark. She also participates in her local homeowner’s association and serves on architectural review committees. Cople and her husband have one married daughter and two grandchildren, who live nearby in Texas.
“I’ve learned a few lessons along the way,” Cople shared at the Junia Award ceremony. She highlighted the value of a supportive family, the power of flexibility, and the importance of building strong networks. She also encouraged humor and persistence, and urged professional women to embrace their unique gifts in the workplace.
Cople was one of three women honored with the 2025 Junia Award. She was recognized alongside Wanda Phipatanakul, director of the Division of Immunology Research Center at Boston Children’s Hospital and S. Jean Emans Professor of Pediatrics at Harvard Medical School; and Nda Anastasie, pastor and founder of the Street Children’s Shelter in Cameroon.
Together, their contributions reflect the Junia Award’s mission to recognize women who break new ground in their fields, lead with vision, and serve with courage.
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