‘Brother Max’ recovering well after accident at Marble Falls High School; surgery scheduled for fractured hip

AUSTIN — Just hours after an ambulance rushed him to an Austin hospital, family and friends say the Rev. Max Copeland is on the road to recovery after an accident in the Marble Falls High School parking lot.

The 80-year-old Copeland — affectionately known as "Brother Max" after more than five decades of community and charity work in Marble Falls — suffered a fractured hip when an auto accidentally backed into him, friends and school officials said.

"He is resting comfortably now," his son Dathan Copeland told The Tribune the morning of May 12.

Surgery is scheduled for May 13 for the former minister of Marble Falls First Baptist Church.

"They are going to fix his hip tomorrow," Dathan said.

Doctors predict the outlook for his father’s long-term recovery is good, he added.

However, it is too soon to determine when the elder Copeland will be released from the hospital, Dathan said.

"We haven’t got that far," Dathan added.

Emergency medical services rushed Max Copeland to St. David’s South Austin Medical Center after 8 p.m. May 11.