Dorothy F. and Walter S. Hopkins, Jr. Fund

Walter (Walt) S. Hopkins, Jr. was born in Denver, Colorado, on October 10, 1913, to Walter and Bertha Wedman Hopkins. Walt served in World War II as a lieutenant commander in the U.S. Navy. While on active duty, he became friends with a fellow Navy officer, John Paul Stevens, who later became a justice of the United States Supreme Court. After Walt left the Navy, he joined the U.S. Forest Service.

Dorothy F. Hopkins, Jr. was born on August 11, 1914, in Fort Bragg, California. She was raised on the coast in a Northern California fishing town where her parents ran an all-purpose hardware store. Dorothy worked in the store from the time she was a small child.

After Dorothy’s first marriage ended she had to support herself and her two young sons in the San Francisco area. She did not feel she could do this on her salary as a secretary, and through her ability and determination, she became a real estate salesperson. She soon became a very successful agent. In fact, she first met Walt through her work while showing him a property.

Dorothy and Walt married 0n January 1, 1961. It was a second marriage for both.

Walt’s thirty-year Forest Service career took them to various locations in the U.S. Dorothy took advantage of being in these new locations and would seek out investment properties. Over the years, due to Dorothy’s keen eye, the Hopkins’ accumulated a sizeable estate.

In 1971, Dorothy and Walt moved to Corvallis following Walt’s retirement from the Forest Service. Walt joined the faculty at Oregon State University (OSU) as a professor of forest management, where he taught until he retired in 1980. He particularly enjoyed teaching the freshman general forestry courses.

After Walt had been retired for some time from OSU, he decided to volunteer as court bailiff at the Benton County Circuit Court, working with Judge Robert Gardner. Walt worked at the courthouse two, three, or more days each week, taking charge of the juries, marking exhibits, and generally helping out wherever needed. He was the primary court bailiff in several major trials, including a highly publicized case involving a murder on the coast. He worked even when he was receiving treatment for cancer, until just a short time before his death.

Dorothy continued to manage the family’s investments. She was very active in the Assistance League and particularly in work related to the thrift shop.

Walt and Dorothy enjoyed spending time in their oceanfront home in Newport, caring for their two German shepherd dogs, and traveling. Dorothy was an avid reader and regular patron of at the Corvallis Library. She was an avid golfer and made a hole-in-one at age 80!

Walt was a kind and generous person, and was very devoted to Dorothy. Someone once described him as “a cross between a Boy Scout and a St. Bernard dog.” He died of cancer at home on December 29, 1989. Dorothy continued to live in their home in Corvallis until she went to live in Mennonite Village in Albany, where she died on December 24, 2001.