Hopkins, Bernice Morrison (1912-2003)
HOPKINS, MORRISON, FOLEY, MAYER, KOEGEL, CLOTHIER
Posted By: Paul Nagy (email)
Date: 1/21/2010 at 12:13:45
Bernice Morrison Hopkins - June 10, 1912 - Oct. 19, 2003
Bernice Terese (Morrison) Hopkins, 91, entered into eternal life at George Washington University Hospital, Washington, DC, on October 19, 2003. Her death was totally unexpected, and related to diabetes and vascular disease.
Bernice was born to Thomas and Maye (Foley) Morrison on June 10, 1912, in Youngstown, Ohio, and baptized there at St. Columba's Church. She grew up in Cleveland, Ohio, and was educated at the Beaumont School for Girls and Ursuline Academy. She graduated from Ursuline College in 1934 with a degree in chemistry.
Although she was interested in pursuing a career in medicine, she was unable to realize her dream of becoming a physician because of the Depression. However, she was extremely proud to have done medical research work at Western Reserve University and various Cleveland area medical institutions.
In 1940 she married William H. Hopkins of Storm Lake, Iowa. To their union were born three children, William, Mary and Pat. Bernice loved her children, family, and friends as only someone with her Irish heritage could. For over forty years she was an active homemaker and community and church member in Storm Lake, Iowa. For many years after her husband's death in 1963, she managed the family farms, and she was also proud of her knowledge of the agriculture business.
In later years aside from being involved in family, community and Ursuline College alumnae activities, she spent considerable time in New York, Washington, and various European cities, most often in Geneva, Switzerland, where she also leaves many friends.
In 1993, she moved to the Washington, D.C., where she made a home for her son William and for her daughter Mary M. (Hopkins) Mayer. In Washington, she likewise acquired a host of friends who admired and loved her. Many younger women in particular found her a perfect role model as to how to age in grace, beauty, and wisdom.
All her family and friends will miss her energy, her style, her humor, her zest for living--but most of all, the love she so generously extended to so many. She was blessed with a long, good life, and she was vibrant even during her last day on Earth. Many people in the Storm Lake, Iowa, Cleveland, Ohio, Geneva, Switzerland, and Washington, D.C., communities will feel her absence most profoundly.
She was preceded in death by her parents, Tom and Maye, her husband William, and her brother, T. Eugene Morrison. She is survived by her son Bill, her daughter Mary Mayer of the District, and by a son Patrick J. of Des Moines, Iowa, as well as by her daughter-in-law Paula and a granddaughter, Jackie Koegel, of Beaverton, Oregon. Other survivors include a sister-in-law, Marie Morrison of Brecksville, Ohio, nephews Thomas and Patrick Morrison of the Cleveland area, Dr. Elvin Hopkins, Lake View, Iowa, a niece, Dr. Julia Ann Hopkins Clothier of Lincoln, Nebraska, as well as numerous close cousins and friends from the Ursuline College community in the Cleveland and Youngstown areas.
A memorial Mass will be celebrated at St. Stephen's in Foggy Bottom, 2436 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., on October 23, 2003, at 7:00 p.m. A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated at St. Mary's Church, Storm Lake, Iowa, on October 27, 2003, at 12:00 noon. Her ashes will be interred at St. Mary's Catholic Cemetery in Storm Lake.
Bernice's children ask that expressions of affection and respect for their mother be made in the form of religious offerings or contributions to the Bernice Morrison Hopkins Memorial Scholarship fund at Ursuline College, 2550 Lander Road, Cleveland, Ohio, 44124.
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