ForeverMissed
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His Life
July 5, 2011

James Delbert Hopkins (May 8, 1927 – April 30, 2011) passed away at the age of 83 at Valley Baptist Hospital in Harlingen, Texas where he lived for the last year.  Before his move south, Mr. Hopkins was a resident of Livonia and Redford, Michigan since the early 1970s.  He is preceded in death by his parents George Franklin Hopkins and Pearl (Risner) Hopkins, wife Nancy Edith Hopkins, sons Michael and James, and daughter Toni, as well as siblings Bess, William, Homer, Roscoe, Julia and Paul.  He is survived by his brother George Jr., daughters Sally, Beverly, Alice and Beth and sons David and John, as well as loved ones Lisa, Matt, Haley and Annika.   Known as Grandpa, Papaw or Papa to many, Mr. Hopkins loved his many grandchildren and great grandchildren dearly and as Uncle Jim or Uncle Delbert, he filled in where needed as a father figure and friend to numerous nephews, nieces and family friends.   After serving in the Navy during WWII, Mr. Hopkins spent the rest of his years as a truck-driver for companies such as Midwest Paper, Faygo and Brockman before starting his own trucking company, Hopkins, Inc.  Having received the first total hip replacement performed on a human in the U.S. in 1973, he retired from driving truck in the 1990s after his second hip replacement.  Mr. Hopkins will be interred, with military honors, in a short service officiated by Fr. Paul Innes of Mariner’s Church of Detroit on Friday, July 8, 2011 at 10:00am at United Memorial Gardens at 4800 Curtis Road in Plymouth, Michigan, where he will find his final resting place next to his beloved wife.  Donations in lieu of flowers can be sent in memory of James Delbert Hopkins to the American Cancer Society.