Woodard Brownfield (Woody) Hopkins Jr. was born on 25 November 1934 in
Boonville, Missouri. He died on 16 September 2000 in Eisenach, Germany,
while visiting Wartburg Castle following a
tour he had led to the 2000 Oberammergau Passion Play. The son of Erna and Woodard B. Hopkins Sr., brother of William,
Sara, John and Robert, husband of Maxie, father to Woodard B. (Buddy)
Hopkins III, Rodney and Christi, uncle on the Hopkins side to Brian,
Christina, Ilmari, Annalaara, Marilla and Mark, and friend, supporter,
mentor and leader to countless others, he is warmly remembered and sorely
missed.
After graduation from Westminster College (Missouri) in 1956, Woodard
embarked on a career in the United States Army, serving abroad in Korea,
Okinawa and Vietnam as well as multiple assignments at the Pentagon and
other U.S. postings, and also earning an MBA degree from Syracuse
University. He retired with the rank of Lt. Colonel, with his last
assignment in the Pentagon as Comptroller to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.
Following his Army retirement, he assumed the post of Comptroller and
Government Relations Manager for Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. In
the early 1980s he was retained as analyst for the new U.S. Department of
Energy, and subsequently rose to the position of Contract Manager for
Business and Information Management Services provided by Computer Data
Systems, Inc. (CDSI) to the U.S. Department of Energy. His responsibility
ranged from strategic financial information management, enterprise
technology services, and communications security (COMSEC), to overall
quality assurance.
He retired from CDSI in 1998 to pursue a lifelong interest in the
history and culture of Europe and the Middle East. In his last years he
had travelled and led educational tours to Egypt, Israel, Greece, Turkey,
England, Scotland, Wales, Austria, Germany, Sweden and Finland, including
three visits to Tampere and Lahti between May 1999 and January 2000 for
family events. Ahead, new trips had already been planned for Italy,
Alaska and China.
Woodard's funeral was held on 05 October 2000 at the Old Post Chapel in
Fort Myer, Virginia, where he and Maxie had been married in 1964 and his
daughter Christi married in 1994. He was buried with full military honors
in Arlington National Cemetery, under one of the oak trees he loved,
looking out across the Potomac toward the Washington Monument — in
death as in life, together with people and history and beauty.
