It’s not every day one of our residents gets a special visit from the Mayor and a day named after her, but then again, there aren’t many people like Fran Philpott! Below is Fran’s impressive biography, a testament to her leadership and years hard work. From serving on the Pearland City Council, to founding “Keep Pearland Beautiful”, and leading the charge to bring the YMCA to Pearland, among other accomplishments, Fran has been a tireless leader, advocate, and philanthropist for her beloved community. Mayor Tom Reid officially declared today “Fran Day” and to show our appreciation for her years of service, Autumn Leaves of Pearland dedicated our center courtyard in honor of Fran!
The Acheivements of Frances Coppinger Philpott
Frances Coppinger Philpott is an amazing and generous woman who has given much to her community and we are here today to honor her. She is an accomplished leader and visionary who has worked over the years in local, regional, state and educational arenas.
Fran has been a resident of the City of Pearland since 1970. She immediately became involved with our community and in 1978 became the first woman to serve on the Pearland City Council. One of her many contributions as councilwoman was the beautification of the city.
She went on to found Clean Pearland, now called Keep Pearland Beautiful, and served as its president. Under her leadership and continued involvement on the Board, Keep Pearland Beautiful received multiple awards at the regional and state levels. She also served as president and board member for the Keep Brazoria County Beautiful Association (KBCBA), and she received their “W.D. Colgrove Award”.
Fran also founded the Pearland Neighborhood Center and negotiated a lease of a $300,000 public building for the center for just $1 a year. The Pearland Neighborhood Center continues to fill the multiple needs of residents in the northern end of Brazoria County.
On the national level, the City of Pearland was a finalist for an All American City Award based on three programs — two of which were founded by Fran — Keep Pearland Beautiful and the Pearland Neighborhood Center.
Fran assisted her husband, Vic Coppinger, in the drive to bring the YMCA to Pearland. They worked tirelessly for years to fund the project and co-donated 16 acres of land for the Coppinger Family YMCA. She also served on the Executive Board.
The United Way of Brazoria County has greatly benefited from Fran’s desire to help the people of her community. Over the years, she helped raise tens of thousands of dollars for the organization as well as serving as Zone Chairman, on the Budget Committee and on the Board of Directors. She received their “Outstanding Volunteer Award”.
It was because of these and other of Fran’s accomplishments that she received the Pearland Area Chamber of Commerce’s “Citizen of the Year Award” in 1984. In presenting the award, Rev. Don Willis called Fran, “the driving force behind Pearland gaining stature in the eyes of the state of Texas.”
Around the same time in her life Fran was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Municipal Solid Waste Management and Resource Recovery Advisory Council for the state of Texas. She served on this council for many years, and in 1991, she was appointed president. In the letter announcing the appointment, Dr. Ron J. Anderson, MD, chairman of the Texas Board of Health, said: “you have continued to represent the ‘general public’ with unselfish dedication, particularly as champion of public education as a means of changing people’s waste management habits in positive ways.
It should be noted that Fran also served as president on the Brazoria County Solid Waste Management Task Force, and served as Vice-President on the Houston Galveston Area Council of Government, Solid Waste Management Task Force.
In 1991, Fran was appointed by Governor Ann Richards to serve on the Texas Ethics Commission. This was a great honor and Fran has fond memories of her frequent trips to Austin to serve on this commission, as well as the Solid Waste Advisory Committee.
In addition to all of Fran’s local and regional work with Keep Pearland Beautiful and KBCBA, Fran worked on beautification on the state level as well. She was a district governor for the Beautify Texas Council and was a member of the task force to form Keep Texas Beautiful and served on that organization’s advisory council for a number of years. In 1997, she was elected president of Keep Texas Beautiful and thoroughly enjoyed her tenure as president.
Through Fran’s membership in the Rotary Club of Pearland she worked to create safe living conditions in Mexico. She was instrumental in originating the Rotary School Sanitation Matching Grant Project in Reynosa, Mexico. She was an original contributor and relationship builder between schools, Rotary Clubs, churches and elected officials in Mexico. They brought sanitary conditions in schools to 1,300 students. Fran was also a co-founder of the Rotary International Friendship Exchange with Osaka, Japan. Fran was elected as an Honorary Rotarian and was granted the “Rotarian of the Year” award from the Rotary Club of Pearland.
Fran is a member of the First United Methodist Church of Pearland. In addition to all these civic activities, Fran managed to focus a good bit of her energy towards helping the church — doing everything from teaching Sunday school to going on multiple mission trips.
Fran has been quite active in the political world, too. She hosted and organized multiple fundraisers, events, and campaign committees for several politicians on the local and state level.
Fran holds a Bachelor of Business Administration in Finance, a Masters of Arts in Public Management, and has done a Doctoral Study in Political Science in all but the dissertation. Her PhD areas of study were American Government, Public Policy and Implementation. As you can see, she pursued an education that served to increase the effectiveness in all of her endeavors.
Later in life, Fran turned her focus more towards education and was a professor at San Jacinto Community College South. In many ways teaching young people about civic duty gave Fran the most joy. She served as the Secretary of the Executive Board for the San Jacinto Community College Foundation, and she received the “Trailblazer” award from the college.
In 2006, Fran received one of her most meaningful awards. The Community Foundation of Brazoria County awarded Fran their “Philanthropist of the Year” award. We will end today with the words of then State Representative Glenda Dawson as she introduced Fran at the awards ceremony: “Fran … has touched lives around the world — from Brazoria County to Japan. As a true philanthropist, Fran focuses her energy to make her world a better place to live.”
