Joseph "Hoppy" Hopkins

Hoppy. . .thoughtful husband, father and grandfather was loved and will be forever missed by his devoted family. They will welcome visitors at the Moore Funeral Home visitation on Sunday.

Hoppy was married to his wife, Allene (a retired Arlington elementary school teacher) for 66 years. They met in 1945 while he was stationed at the U.S. Naval Base in Orange, awaiting the commissioning of the USS Corry.

After being discharged from the Navy, Hoppy worked for General Electric in Dallas and Fort Worth for the next 42 years, retiring in 1989.

Hoppy was born June 3, 1924, in Shelton, Conn. Shortly after graduating from high school (in 1942 at the age of 18), he joined the U.S. Navy and served in the North Atlantic during World War II on a naval destroyer escort.

He and his family moved to Arlington in 1956 where their sons, Joseph and John, grew up and he was active in their sports activities, serving as a coach and president of the Optimist League. In later life, he truly adored his grandchildren, his first grandchild, Gavin Hopkins, and then Lexie, Payton and Jaxson Hopkins. The last weekend of his life, he gratefully celebrated Veterans' Day at his grandchildren's Spring Cypress elementary school.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Mabel and Herbert Hopkins, and his brother, Frank Hopkins of Connecticut.

Survivors: Wife, Allene Hopkins; sons and their wives, Joseph W and Chevelle Hopkins of Houston, John F and Patrice Hopkins of Flower Mound; grandchildren, Gavin W. Hopkins of Flower Mound and Lexie, Payton and Jaxson Hopkins of Houston; sister, Jane Hopkins of Connecticut.