We enioyed life there. Edith was a songbird and sang in the church choir and the school choir. I followed her to the school choir and spent a short time in the church choir. My mother didn’t think my spirituality was adequate for the Church of God In Christ choir, so I was out.
She got saved at the ripe old age of twelve. Mine came much later. While singing in the school choir, we all went to Disneyland when it opened. Music was our thing. Edith sang and played some piano. I played Saxophone. She took voice lessons and was quite accomplished. She finished high school and moved to Los Angeles where she finished college and went to work at Head Start. She worked at Los Angeles Head Start and later at Pasadena Head Start for years under Lois Richards. I got married and followed her to Los Angeles with my budding family. She graduated from Redlands and I graduated from Pepperdine. Edith moved to Pasadena and I followed, moving there a few years later. Her contacts helped me get a job. She married a ministers’ son and gave birth to two daughters, Amber and Tori. The marriage didn’t last but her Head Start career lasted years, until retirement. She returned to Bakersfield where she continued in her career at Head Start. At some point she felt discriminated against at Head Start and we sued them in Federal Court. The result was a two hundred thousand dollar jury verdict, the largest ever at that point. Life events included a row boat trip with her then boyfriend and me and my wife, Ruthie. Idecided to show off and dove out of the small boat into the water. The boat turned over and Edith thought we were drowning. In fact, the water was only waist deep. While she was screaming with her eyes closed, I had to remind her that if she could scream, she wasn’t drowning. Edith was my mother, Christine, and father, Albert’s, pride and joy. They called her an obedient child. She cared for them until their deaths. My father passed before my mother. When caregiving became difficult, and Edith needed more assistance, our mother was placed in a Nursing Home. Edith was there daily. She once called Sheriff to the Nursing Home because she felt they were not treating our Mama right. Mama’s Nursing Home room was filled with cards, banners, Gospel music and other seasonal decorations all year long. Since our mother was non-communicative, Edith placed a sign-in book in her room for visitors to sign so Edith would know who came to visit when she was not there. After her retirement, Edith operated Hopkins’ House. She turned our family home into a warm homey place where mostly ladies could come and meet, have tea or luncheon meetings while browsing the collectibles Edith kept from our mother or items for sell such as crafts, pictures, home goods, antiques, cards, books and Women’s clothing, furs, jewelry and hats. She hosted church ladies and provided a location for workshops, continuing the family business started by my mother. Edith returned to Trinity Church of God In Christ, her childhood church where she served until her passing. She is survived by her two daughters, Amber and Tory, one sister, Mae Lois, and one brother, Joe C. Hopkins. She was preceeded in death by a younger brother Albert Jr, who was a professor in northern California. Rest in peace sweet sister, rest in peace. |
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