Mary Frances McKoy Hopkins

LSU Alumni Professor emerita Mary Frances McKoy HopKins died in her home, with her family in attendance, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She was born in Coushatta, Louisiana, and moved to Baton Rouge when she was four years old. She received her education at Nicholson Elementary School, University High Laboratory School and LSU. Predeceased by her mother, Matsy Armistead McKoy, her father Dale Edgar McKoy, and her husband, Joseph K. HopKins, III, she is survived by her daughter, Kent HopKins, and her son, Joseph K. HopKins, IV. Mary Frances McKoy HopKins received her Ph.D. degree from the LSU Department of Speech in the summer of 1968. That fall, she joined the faculty as an assistant professor and began a distinguished career in oral interpretation and performance studies. For morethan twenty years, her textbook Performing Literature (co-authored with Beverly Whitaker Long), was a popular introductory text for students of oral interpretation. She also gained a national reputation as a pioneering scholar in narrative theory, southern fiction, and the place of literature in performance studies. Her articles have appeared in the Quarterly Journal of Speech, Text and Performance Quarterly, Communication Education, Literature in Performance, Communication Monographs, Central States Speech Journal, and the Southern States Speech Journal. Her scholarship also played a major role in defining the field. Her invited essays (often written with Mary Susan Strine of the University of Utah and Beverly Whitaker Long of the University of North Carolina) appear in both historical and contemporary surveys of interpretation and performance studies. Over the years, she served the LSU Speech Department, the university, the field of performance studies, and the broader discipline of communication studies with unparalleled distinction. She was appointed assistant dean of the LSU Graduate School from 1979-1982 and served as chair of department from 1982-1991. She also held numerous offices outside of LSU, including chair of the National Communication Association (NCA) Finance Board, chair of the NCA Performance Studies Division, and president of the Southern States Communication Association. From 1983-1986, she was named editor of the national journal, Literature in Performance. She also served on the editorial boards of Literature in Performance, Text and Performance Quarterly, Communication Education, Speech Teacher, and the Southern Speech Communication Journal. In recognition of her exceptional career as a scholar, teacher, and administrator, she received the honors of Alumni Professor and Professor Emerita in 1991 and 1996, respectively. In 2009 she received the NCA Lifetime Teaching Award. Throughout her career, she viewed oral interpretation/performance studies as both a critical discipline and a performing art. Her insight is evident in the artistry with which she crafted her many public performances and presentations. Over the years, she has adapted, directed, or performed in more than thirty performances. Of particular note is the ever memorable duet performance of Flannery O'Connor's "Everything Rises Must Converge," which she performed with her colleague, the late Bill Harbin. As recent as 2002, she performed the role of Katherine Anne Porter in Laura Furman and Lynn Miller's one-person play Passenger on the Ship of Fools. She also graced the stage as an invited lecturer or critic at numerous performance and communication studies conferences and festivals. In 2005, she delivered the prestigious Giles Wilkerson Gray Lecture, which was held in association with the Southern States Communication Association convention in Baton Rouge. In her address, "Tell It Slant," she combined her piercing intellect with her gracious good humor to offer a challenge to educators, in all disciplines, regarding the value of literature in creating ethical knowledge. She was an active member of St. James Episcopal Church for more than sixty years, serving on numerous committees, bringing Holy Communion to housebound members as a lay Eucharistic minister, and helping serve gumbo to the public during St. James' observance of Lent. She also participated in the Education for Ministry program offered by St. James, both as a student and as an assistant facilitator of the program. She also assisted with St. James' outreach to the local homeless community. St. James continued to be an important part of her life after she became disabled two years prior to her death and was unable to attend regular services. Over the years she lived in Baton Rouge, she served as a member of numerous social and civic organizations, including The Reviewers book club and Harlequins. A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, November 13, 2013, at St. James Episcopal Church. Visitation in the Parish hall will begin at 9:00 a.m., followed by the service at 11:00. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to St. James Episcopal Church or to St. Joseph Hospice Foundation. Online guestbook is available atwww.rabenhorst.com" target="_blank" rel="nofollow">http://www.rabenhorst.com" target="_blank">www.rabenhorst.comandhttp://www.theadvocate.com" target="_blank">www.theadvocate.com.