| Sources |
- [S113] Manes Funeral Home, (http://www.manesfuneralhome.com), 11 Nov 2007.
(April 26, 1915 - November 11, 2007)
U.S. Veteran Oll Cordell (Hoppy) Hopkins, age 92 of Newport passed away Sunday, November 11, 2007 at Mountain Home VA in Johnson City. He was a veteran of the U S Army having served in WWII and was a Pearl Harbor survivor. He was preceded in death by his parents Walter and Maude Hopkins; wife, Edith Lane Hopkins; sisters, Ruby McMahan, Ruey Hopkins, Gona Tokar, and Reva Palmer. He is survived by his daughters, Phyllis Hopkins of Newport, Elaine Ward and husband James C., of Chattanooga, TN. sister, Melba Phillips of Newport, TN. He will also be sadly missed by several nieces and nephews and a host of friends.
Graveside services will be held 10 am Wednesday, November 14, 2007 at Union Cemetery. Family will receive friends from 6 pm to 8 pm Tuesday, November 13, 2007 at Manes Funeral Home.
- [S24] The Newport Plain Talk, (http://www.newportplaintalk.com), 13 Nov 2007.
O. C. "Hoppy" Hopkins, Pearl Harbor survivor, dies at 92
NEWPORT - With the death Sunday of O. C. "Hoppy" Hopkins, the number of Cocke County's Pearl Harbor survivors dropped to two.
Hopkins, 92, died on Veterans Day at Mountain Home Veterans Hospital in Johnson City, nearly 66 years after the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii, an act which catapulted the United States into World War II.
Like many young men and ladies of his generation, Hopkins first entered military service in the 1930s because of a lack of available jobs. Although America was slowly emerging from the Great Depression, employment opportunities in the Appalachian area remained scarce, and so it was, in 1939, that Hopkins enlisted in the United States Army on December 5.
Hopkins was first stationed at Fort Oglethorpe, Georgia, and later sent to Maxwell Field, Alabama, for basic training.
In a 1991 interview, Hopkins recalled, "I was big and strong, healthy, so I didn't think the training was hard." Upon completion of his training, Hopkins was sent to Fort Moultrie, South Carolina for shipment to Wheeler Field, Territory of Hawaii.
Upon his arrival in Hawaii, Hopkins volunteered for duty with the fire department, and still later, volunteered again for work in the kitchen.
Fifty years later he laughed when recalling the promises he and two other soldiers made concerning their cooking skills. "We told them we had cooked in the CCCs back home. We couldn't even fry an egg, but...we got away with it...at least for a little while," he said.
On the morning of the Japanese attack, Hopkins had just left the breakfast hall. He later recalled that on that particular morning, he had left the mess hall less than ten minutes before a bomb hit it, killing 35 men inside.
He and fellow soldiers quickly positioned a machine gun and began firing at enemy planes, some of which flew so low that he could see the faces of the pilots.
Hopkins was born in Cosby in the Chavis community, second child and only son of Walter and Maude (Wilson) Hopkins. His father rode a mule to deliver the mail to area residents.
Later the family moved to another home behind Cosby High School, where Hopkins would graduate in 1938. The Hopkins family attended the Methodist church.
While stationed in Texas, Hopkins married his Cosby sweetheart Edith Lane, who traveled there for the wedding. Afterwards she returned to Cocke County to await her young husband's return.
Hopkins remained in the service for six years.
Upon coming back to Cocke County, Hopkins opened a grocery store on Jones Hill, later moving the business to a building on the corner of Jefferson Avenue and Mulberry Street.
Still later he and Lockard Cooper remodeled a former Church of God building and renamed it Jones Hill Grocery, operating this business for several years. Cooper traveled throughout the community selling, while Hopkins remained at the business.
During this time many people worked at the business, including Pauline McAndrew, Alma Ruth Gilliland, and Harold Miller. According to Hopkins' daughter, Phyllis, "Several high school students worked there, too, over the years."
Following his retirement from the grocery business in 1971, Hopkins worked for a short time for the late Glenn Ellison, delivering meat to area homes and businesses.
In 1958, Hopkins was stricken with colon cancer and spent several months in Johnson City at the Veterans Hospital. At one time his weight dropped to less than 100 pounds. However, after a lengthy battle with the disease, Hopkins recovered and remained cancer free until 1990, when he again was diagnosed with cancer.
A broken hip in December, 2006, landed him in the Veterans Hospital yet again, where he underwent surgery on December 7, 65 years to the day after surviving the Pearl Harbor attack.
Preceding Hopkins in death were his parents and four sisters. His youngest sister, Melba Phillips, survives, as do two daughters, a son-in-law, and several nieces and nephews.
Also surviving are two other Cocke County natives, who are Pearl Harbor survivors: Orville Calfee and Solomon Black. Three other survivors, Richard E. "Dick" Nodell, Pete Eichorn, and Herman Hall, preceded Hopkins in death.
The family will receive friends tonight at Manes Funeral Home, and graveside services will follow tomorrow morning (Wednesday) at Union Cemetery.
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1915 - 2007 (92 years)
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