Copperas Cove businessman dies in boating accident at Temple Lake Park

By LYNETTE SOWELL

Cove Leader-Press

Copperas Cove businessman Ronnie Viss died on Saturday evening after a boating accident at Temple Lake Park on Lake Belton.

Jen Shugart, with the Texas Parks & Wildlife press office, released a statement on Monday that Texas Game Wardens responded to a boating-related incident at the park on Saturday.

She said that Viss was struck by the bow of the boat in the incident and was declared deceased at the scene.

Viss, well-known in Gatesville, Copperas Cove, and throughout Coryell County and central Texas, opened Scott’s Funeral Home in Copperas Cove in 2012.

In the years that followed, he continued to serve area communities. He also served on the Gatesville city council for eight years and has been a longtime member of the Exchange Club, first in Gatesville and then in Copperas Cove, where he served as president and past president.

Viss purchased the Copperas Cove location of Scott’s Funeral Home in 2020, reopening it as Viss Family Funeral home. As of press time Monday, no memorial service arrangements had been announced.