Shayla Diane Copas

LITTLE ROCK — Her tears surprise her. Brushing them away, Shayla Copas smiles gently and apologizes for becoming emotional.

She’s describing a defining moment of her life, a moment that’s simple but affecting, one of those little things that can take a person by surprise, like the tears.

Two years ago, Copas traveled from Maumelle to her home state of Washington to attend her brother’s wedding. She had booked a room in “what used to be a very nice hotel,” she says. “But when I got to my room, it didn’t seem like what it used to be.”

Disappointed, she gathered her bags and headed to the front desk to check out. As she walked through a shabby hallway, she was drawn to a small bookshelf that displayed a sign encouraging visitors to “please take a book and bring one back someday.” Copas found herself reaching for The Blessing, a 1986 inspirational work by Gary Smalley and John Trent.

“I opened it and the first page I went to spoke to me. The book talks about how everyone is a blessing. I’m very spiritual, so I see things like this as telling me what God thinks,” she says, her voice growing husky. “God was saying to me, ‘Be happy with what you have.’”

She carried the book back to her room, where she settled in to read and reflect. “I actually stayed and I was very content in the tattered hotel room with the leak in the ceiling. I learned a valuable lesson.”

Again, there’s the smile, winning and warm. Her voice, and the smile, brighten as Copas describes The Blessing’s theme of offering unconditional acceptance to loved ones.

“I’m sorry I cried. I’m sounding very emotional - because this is emotional. I feel like the book helped me find who I am today.”

Her depth of feeling, no doubt, wouldn’t surprise those who know the 38-year-old interior decorator and avid volunteer. Caring. Kind. Thoughtful. Open. Honest. Creative. Generous. The adjectives that friends, family, clients and colleagues use to describe her at-test to her sensitivity, as well as their regard for her.

“She has an extremely good heart,” says Scott Copas, her husband of 15 years. “She feels for people. She’s one of the very few people I’ve met who keeps her word. Integrity - if I had to pick one word for her, that’s it. She’s the most honest person I’ve met in my life.”

“She’s a very gracious and caring person,” says Chris Norwood, vice president of Tipton and Hurst in Little Rock. Norwood is working with Copas on Opus XXVIII, the annual black-tie ball that benefits the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra. He and Copas (owner of Shayla Copas Interiors) co-chaired the design committee for Opus XXVII in 2011; this year, Norwood is in charge of design while Copas and her husband are co-chairs responsible for planning and organizing the entire gala.

“Shayla never asks someone to do something she wouldn’t do herself,” Norwood says. “She works as hard as all the other volunteers.”

CLARITY AND FOCUS

Noting her attention to detail, he says that while Copas aims to ensure an event is entertaining and beautiful, “she’s mindful that we don’t just cover expenses, but come away making a profit.”

An example is the 2009 Heart Ball that Copas also co-chaired with her husband; the event raised $1.1 million for the central Arkansas division of the American Heart Association.

“Shayla really has a desire to succeed at whatever she determines she wants to do,” says Carol Dyer, executive director of the Heart Association. “She’s a very talented individual and can focus on a project with great clarity. She can visualize the end product; then she works to make sure we stay within budget limitations. And she can be creative around those limitations.”

The goal for Opus XXVIII is to net $400,000 to fund music education programs for children. Copas says they’re well on track, having already raised more than the $468,000 budgeted to cover expenses for staging the Nov. 17 event. The gala includes a patrons’ party at P. Allen Smith’s Moss Mountain homestead, silent and live auctions, and dinner and dancing at the Capital Hotel.

“The symphony ball is the most elegant event of the year,” Copas says. “Scott and I have attended the ball for several years. We love music. When we were approached and asked to chair the ball, we gave it a lot of thought because we’re involved in so many things. But we both love the arts and arts programs today are very underfunded.”

In addition to her work for the symphony, Shayla Copas has served on the boards of Women and Children First, the Florence Crittenton Home, the Heart Association, CARTI, Maumelle Fine Arts Council, Riverfest and the Arkansas Symphony. She’s also chaired a BOLO Bash luncheon for Baptist Health Foundation and the Maumelle Christmas Tour of Homes.

Currently, she is a member of the board of Easter Seals of Arkansas, an organization with which she has a personal connection through her husband’s sister, Lyn Copas.

LOVE AND DEVOTION

“My sister is mentally handicapped and led a pretty sheltered life with my mother,” Scott Copas says. When his mother, Sarah Copas, died three years ago, Shayla stepped in to take care of Lyn, then 56. “Shayla had always talked to my mother about how Lyn needed to get out and start learning a little bit about the world. When my mother died, Shayla took the bull by the horns.”

Shayla Copas arranged for her sister-in-law to move into an independent living complex operated by Easter Seals Arkansas. There, Lyn has thrived and become a social butterfly.

“The day after Scott’s mother passed away, I was looking through some things in the house and found a binder that contained handwritten notes about how Sarah wanted her daughter taken care of,” Copas says. “At that moment, I realized I wasn’t only a mother to a teen-age child [Chelsey, now 18] but a mother to an adult woman who needed me. I keep the binder in my office and look at it sometimes and remind myself of my responsibilities.”

“Shayla is devoted to her family and friends,” Scott Copas says. “She’s going to do whatever she needs to do to make sure they’re safe and taken care of.”

“My priorities are God, family, career, friends and community,” Shayla Copas says. Her family includes daughter Chelsey, plus stepchildren Nicholas, Michael and Beth. “I’m very grateful that God has led me in a path of happiness and I’m thankful for the people he has brought into my life.”

ECLECTIC TASTES

Copas grew up in the rural community of Goldendale, Wash., on the farm where her father, Butch Beyerlin, grows alfalfa and wheat. Stepmother Nancy Beyerlin, whom Copas says she has always called “Mom,” says her stepdaughter always reached out to others and made it a point to make them feel special and cared for. She was especially interested in senior citizens, Beyerlin says, recalling that when Copas was about 12 years old, she began riding her bicycle to a local nursing home to visit residents. At Christmas, she wrapped toys and knickknacks from their house, put them in her bicycle basket and delivered them to her elderly friends.

“Some kids are drawn only to their immediate peers. Shayla was never that way. She’s quite eclectic in the type of people she bonds with,” Beyerlin says.

Copas says she developed strong bonds with people she met at the nursing home, among them an Alzheimer’s patient named Yvonne.

“She loved makeup and having her hair brushed. She thought my name was ‘Gracy,’” Copas says. “Yvonne was convinced that I and her husband were her only allies. She didn’t like the nurses and would often get upset if a nurse came into the room.” Copas visited Yvonne often, listening to her stories and comforting her when she was stressed. When Copas moved to Arkansas in 1995, she kept up with Yvonne; in 1997, she invited Yvonne to attend her wedding.

“I remember walking down the aisle and seeing sweet little Yvonne all dolled up in her wheelchair in the back of the church. She had on her favorite dress and was beaming ear to ear. ... I think of her often and smile. As I tell this story, I realize God had a reason for my many visits to the nursing home.”

Describing herself as “very passionate about people,” Copas credits her stepmother with teaching her to make concern for others a priority.

“Mom is a woman who believes in giving back,” Copas says. Beyerlin taught her and her brother and sister “that we needed to be involved. In high school, it was required that we be involved in doing something to help other people. That’s how she focused our family - on giving back and helping other people. That was always a part of my life.”

Copas’s compassion, combined with her sweet nature and enthusiasm, create a lasting impression, says Sharri Jones of Pine Bluff.

“We really met 2 1/2 years ago, but before that I had seen her at so many events and always admired her, but never had a conversation with her.” Jones connected with Copas when she was involved in interior design of the Sissy’s Log Cabin jewelry store in the Heights area of Little Rock.

“Our friendship was instant and now we’re such good friends. She is one of the most generous people I’ve ever met,” Jones says. “No matter what she has going on in her life, she makes time for her friends and family. It may be a text, an e-mail, even a cookbook. It’s just all kinds of little thoughtful things.”

LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Scott Copas says his wife’s thoughtfulness as well as her joie de vivre captivated him when he met her in 1994.

“It was almost love at first sight,” he remembers. The executive vice chairman of Baldwin and Shell Construction Co. noticed then 20-year-old Shayla while he was attending a contractors convention in Portland, Ore. At the time, she was living in Vancouver, Wash., running her first business, a company dealing in high-end silk florals.

“There was just something about her,” Scott says. “I was so intrigued. She had a real zest for life and was just fun to be around.”

Their relationship progressed quickly.

“I met Scott on Sept. 29 of 1994, which was beyond a shadow of a doubt one of the best days of my life,” Shayla says. “I was out with a friend. He saw me and asked me if I wanted to go on a date. I thought he was forward so I got his business card and said I would think about it.”

Intrigued, she later called him. “We went out to dinner every night that he was in town. On the last night, he gave me a letter and asked me to read it later. The letter said that I was his angel and that he knew we would one day be together forever.”

After returning to Arkansas, Scott asked Shayla to visit him. He proposed during dinner at Alouette’s Restaurant, surprising her with an engagement ring that he asked the waiter to hide in her salad. They married in 1997.

He describes his wife as a savvy businesswoman with exuberant entrepreneurial spirit. “She’s an extremely talented individual, especially in her design work. She has an amazing sense of color and design concepts. A client couldn’t ask for anything more. She makes sure she gives 110 percent.”

Shayla Copas Interiors serves residential and commercial clients, among them Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Arkansas, Arkansas Children’s Hospital and Sissy’s Log Cabin.

Copas says her design aesthetic is eclectic. Her house in Maumelle contains traditional and contemporary elements. The first floor is decorated in shades of gold and features heavy wood furniture, while the second floor is light and airy, the walls adorned with brightly colored abstract paintings by Arkansas artists.

She and her husband are now remodeling a house in the Hickory Hills area of Little Rock, which they plan to move into next year.

Copas says she can’t remember when she wasn’t interested in decorating, noting that as a child, she redecorated her bedroom regularly.

“She’s always been very conscious of colors and of putting things together,” Beyerlin says. She laughs, adding, “I’d come home from work and find that she’d rearranged my furniture. She created vignettes here and there in the house. That was part of her play, her way of having fun. She was always surprising me.”

Scott Copas says his wife’s willingness to try new things keeps him on his toes.

“She’s always got some new idea, some new thing she wants to run by me,” he says. “She constantly amazes me, quite frankly.”

SELF PORTRAIT Shayla Copas

DATE AND PLACE OF BIRTH Feb. 5, 1974, Goldendale, Wash.

MY FAVORITE COLOR IS Gold

MY FAVORITE MOVIE IS Forrest Gump. There’s humor in it, but it teaches you life lessons.

THE GUESTS AT MY FANTASY DINNER PARTY WOULD BE Walt Disney, Mary Kay Ash, Donald Trump, Milton Hershey, my husband and Oprah Winfrey

MY FAVORITE FOOD IS Chocolate

I ABSOLUTELY WILL NOT EAT Sardines

MY PET PEEVE IS Dishonesty. I do not like people who lie.

IT’S VERY IMPORTANT FOR ME TO Be reflective and look at myself accurately. I can’t be of value to anyone else if I don’t.

MOST PEOPLE DON’T KNOW That I was a tomboy and daredevil as a child. I chased chickens, climbed around in caves and caught lizards.

THE PERSON I MOST ADMIRE IS My husband, Scott Copas.

THE LAST BOOK READ WAS The Blessing, because I read it so often.

ONE WORD TO SUM ME UP Honest