Richmond Hopkins
Richmond “Rich” Benner Hopkins, age 86, of Riverside, CT died peacefully at the Edgehill community on July 16, 2013.
Rich is survived by his beloved wife of 60 years, Barbara Hamilton Hopkins and his three children; Richmond B. Hopkins Jr. (Virginia Lovering Hopkins) of East Montpelier, Vt.; Jeffrey Alden Hopkins (Evelyn McCandless Hopkins) of Longmeadow, Mass.; and Sarah Hopkins Wilson (James L. Wilson) of Moorestown, N.J. Rich was the loving grandfather of eight grandchildren; Charles, Sarah Ann, Samuel, Terrell Sydnor, Austin, and Alden Hopkins; Brianna Defoe and Hannah Wilson. Rich is survived by his sister, Barbara Hopkins Stratton (late John E. Stratton) of Manchester, N.H.; John Alden Hopkins (Helen Pomroy Hopkins) of Mukilteo, Wash. and 12 nieces and nephews.
Born June 2, 1927 to the late Harold R. and Ruth B. Hopkins, Rich grew up in Caldwell, NJ before graduating from Montclair Academy in 1945. After serving in the US Navy and graduating from Amherst College with the Class of 1950, Rich began a happy and fruitful career in the paper and printing industry, working for the Oxford Paper Company, Mead Paper Company and the W.A. Krueger Company, from which he retired in 1991.
Rich was a resident of Old Greenwich and Riverside for the past 56 years. He was selfless in his commitment to family, friends and community. He was a member of the Greenwich Retired Mens Association and was involved with various local organizations. He was a long standing member of the First Congregational Church of Greenwich where he had served as deacon and chair of the Board of Trustees.
Rich shared his passion for tennis, skiing and sailing with his family and many friends. A champion sailor, he was captain of Thursday’s Child, which he kept moored at the Riverside Yacht Club. He skippered Thursday’s Child on many a voyage with family and friends up and down the New England and mid-Atlantic coast. Outside of Connecticut, Rich kept a special spot in his heart for New London, New Hampshire where he and his family own a much-loved home, ‘Windy Top,’ built by Rich’s parents in 1965.
A memorial service will be held at the First Congregational Church of Greenwich in Old Greenwich, CT on Saturday, September 7, 2013 at 11am.
In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to CALL-A-RIDE OF GREENWICH, INC., 37 Lafayette Place, Greenwich, CT 06830, or to The Ausbon Sargent Land Preservation Trust, P.O. Box 2040, 71 Pleasant Street, New London, N.H. 03257.
—by the family