Bill Hopson, an Army veteran and founding member of Calvary Baptist Church in East Hampton in 1954, died on March 29 at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital. The East Hampton resident was 95.
The church's last surviving charter member, Mr. Hopson had several roles: trustee, groundskeeper, member of the Brotherhood group and men's choir, and volunteer at the annual chicken barbecue.
An enthusiastic fisherman and gardener who especially enjoyed tending roses, Mr. Hopson had a career with Hren Nurseries first and later was a caretaker at the Chauncey estate in East Hampton. When the property was sold to Arthur Ross in the early 1970s, it was on the condition that Mr. Hopson would remain. He became semiretired at age 65, "but it wasn't until he was 90 years old that he announced he would not be working anymore," his family wrote.
William Hopson was born in Drewryville, Va., on April 5, 1926, to John and Lillar Hopson. Their large family moved to Bridgehampton when he was a boy, and he went on to graduate from Bridgehampton High School.
He served in the Pacific during World War II as a transportation sergeant and was honorably discharged in December of 1946.
It was at the First Baptist Church in Bridgehampton where Mr. Hopson met Bertha Lee Hartwell of East Hampton. They married in September of 1950, had four children, and enjoyed 63 years together. She died in 2014.
Mr. Hopson's family wrote that they will take comfort in the words he spoke before his death: "I'm 95. I've had a good life. I'm ready to go."
Mr. Hopson is survived by his children, Robert Hopson and Alan Hopson of East Hampton, Lois Collins of Calverton, and Lee Ann Gore of Fayetteville, W.V. He also leaves seven grand-children, William T. Collins IV, Tygue L. Collins, William H. Hopson, Julia Hopson Williamson, Charles E. Gore III, Brian C. Gore, and Jonathan W. Hopson. Eleven great-grandchildren and three great-great-grandchildren also survive, as do two sisters, Mary Taylor of Riverhead and Martha Craggette of Chesapeake, Va.
Visiting hours will be on Sunday from 4 to 6 p.m. at the Yardley and Pino Funeral Home in East Hampton, with a funeral planned for Monday at 11 a.m. at Calvary Baptist Church followed by burial with military honors at Cedar Lawn Cemetery. His family has suggested memorial donations to the American Cancer Society at cancer.org.
