Roy M. Hopkins
Encyclopedia
Roy McArthur Hopkins, known as Hoppy Hopkins (June 10, 1943 – November 23, 2006), was a Democratic
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
, having represented District 1 in northern Caddo Parish
and two precinct
s in northern Bossier Parish
from 1988 until his Thanksgiving Day death after a long illness of bone cancer. In 1966, Hopkins moved his family to Oil City
(population 1,219 in the 2000 census
) and made his living there as an automobile dealer.
Previously, Hopkins, had been an alderman
and mayor
of Oil City. In 1979, he was elected to the Caddo Parish Police Jury, which became the Caddo Parish Commission in December 1984. Hopkins was elected by his colleagues as the first president of the Caddo Parish Commission. Two Republican
commissioners, Tommy Gene Armstrong
and Lloyd E. Lenard
, served thereafter as the second and third presidents of the commission, respectively.
Hopkins was born in the village of Murchison
near Athens
in Henderson County, Texas
. He was a veteran of the United States Army
, having been stationed in Germany
during the Cold War
.
incumbent
Bruce Newton Lynn, I
, of Gilliam
decided not to seek re-election in 1987. Hopkins defeated the Fourth Congressional District Republican chairman, Kenneth "Ken" Frazier, and a fellow Democrat, Norbert Johnson. Hopkins polled 6,756 votes (53 percent) to Frazier's 5,128 (40 percent), and Johnson's 813 ballots (6 percent). Frazier's campaign against Hopkins was the last to have been managed by former State Republican Chairman George Joseph Despot
(1927–1991) of Shreveport
.
Another Republican, David Hunter, tried unsuccessfully to defeat Hopkins in 1991. Hopkins polled 8,187 (73 percent) to Hunter's 2,964 (27 percent). Republicans left Hopkins unopposed in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 primaries. However, two Democrats, attorney Kirby Kelly and Philip Green, challenged him in 2003. Hopkins received 6,861 votes that year to Kelly's 2,322 (24 percent) and Green's 606 ballots (6 percent)
taxes among local governments.
The Shreveport Times, his regional newspaper, described Hopkins as having a great sense of humor and a "biting wit" but "adept at getting bills passed and maneuvering behind the scenes to kill legislation he opposed." Hopkins was a veteran member of the important House Appropriations Committee. He was elected by the legislative delegation of the Fourth Congressional District to serve as its representative on the state House panel.
A colleague and close friend, Representative Billy Montgomery
, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Haughton
in Bossier Parish, told the Shreveport Times that Hopkins was a "team player" who had a good relationship with almost everybody. . . . He led because people liked him so much."
Hopkins authored a bill to provide health benefits to lawmakers who had served prior to the installation of term limits. The bill passed, but Democratic Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco vetoed the bill at the "urging of Republican lawmakers, many of whom had voted for the legislation ... People never understood that Hoppy wasn't doing that for himself. He was just thinking about other members. He already had [his own] insurance ... and retirement," Montgomery explained.
Representative Wayne Waddell
, a Shreveport Republican first elected in a 1997 special election to succeed Republican Roy L. Brun
, who became a state district judge, said that he voted for the health-benefits bill because it "means too much to Hoppy."
Then House Speaker Joe Salter, a Democrat from Florien
in Sabine Parish
, said that Hopkins could not be pressured to support or oppose legislation. Salter noted that the commissioner of administration once threatened Hopkins about projects in north Caddo Parish. "Hoppy told him to go ahead and pull the damn things, but he wasn't voting" as the commissioner requested, Salter said.
Billy Montgomery told The Times that ethics laws were unneeded for legislators like Hopkins: "He just had common sense, and he was a good person. If you want to pattern yourself, as an alderman, a small town mayor or a member of a legislature, he's the pattern to follow."
An avid golf
er and hunter, Hopkins was a member of the Monterey Country Club in Vivian
and was among a regular group of House members who managed to play nine holes of golf before morning committee meetings during legislative sessions, noted The Times. The same was also said of an earlier occupant of the north Caddo House seat, James H. "Jimmy" Wilson (1931–1986), a Democrat and later Republican from Vivian.
, Fayreen Tiner of Tyler
, and Bonnie Ruth Holsomback of Frankston
, Texas; one brother, Joe Dan Hopkins of Jacksonville
, Texas; three grandchildren, Brandon Hopkins, Rachel Garlington, and Meredith LeBlanc, and two great-grandchildren.
Services were held on November 28, 2006, in the 300-seat United Pentecostal Church
of Oil City, with the Reverends Johnny Peden, Gerald Trammell, and H. A. McFarland officiating. Todd Hopkins eulogized his father as "my mentor, ... my hero, and my friend. We will miss him, but we know that he is in a better place. He fought a good fight." When the church sanctuary filled, mourners were directed to an overflow area in the gymnasium.
Speaker Salter told the mourners that "Hoppy was always faithful in terms of his service. Even when he was ill, he would come to the sessions. He demonstrated his desire to serve in spite of his illness." Salter added that Hopkins was "tremendously brave when he faced death. He talked about it and made plans. And he never questioned why. It was quite a testimony the way he faced death."
Governor Blanco arrived in Oil City, having first attended the inauguration of outgoing state Representative Cedric Bradford Glover
as the first black mayor of Shreveport. She missed the service itself but attended the burial in Lakeview Memorial Gardens and met privately afterward with Mrs. Hopkins. Pallbearers included Judge Roy Brun, Wayne Taylor, Patrick Wooldridge, Dan Turner, Dr. John Haynes, and Charlie Alexander. Hopkins and Brun were initially elected to the legislature in 1987 and developed an interparty friendship over the years.
The Hopkins family requested memorials to the Oil and Gas Museum in Oil City 71601. Oil City is located on Louisiana Highway 1 north of Caddo Lake and south of the Arkansas
state line.
Hopkins was honored two months before his death by the naming of "Roy 'Hoppy' Hopkins Drive", the entrance to the Caddo Parish Ward II Industrial Park near Vivian.
In a special election
held on February 24, 2007, to choose Hopkins' successor, the Republican Jim Morris
, a Caddo Parish commissioner, received 69 percent of the vote and defeated two other Republicans and two Democrats. Morris then won a full term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007.
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...
member of the Louisiana House of Representatives
Louisiana House of Representatives
The Louisiana House of Representatives is the lower house in the Louisiana State Legislature, the state legislature of the US state of Louisiana. The House is composed of 105 Representatives, each of whom represents approximately 42,500 people . Members serve four-year terms with a term limit of...
, having represented District 1 in northern Caddo Parish
Caddo Parish, Louisiana
Caddo Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The parish seat is Shreveport; as of 2000, the population was 252,161...
and two precinct
Precinct
A precinct is a space enclosed by the walls or other boundaries of a particular place or building, or by an arbitrary and imaginary line drawn around it. The term has several different uses...
s in northern Bossier Parish
Bossier Parish, Louisiana
Bossier Parish is named for Pierre Bossier, a 19th-century Louisiana state senator and U.S. representative from Natchitoches Parish.Bossier Parish was spared fighting on its soil during the American Civil War...
from 1988 until his Thanksgiving Day death after a long illness of bone cancer. In 1966, Hopkins moved his family to Oil City
Oil City, Louisiana
Oil City is a town in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,219 at the 2000 census. Oil City is located on Louisiana Highway 1 north of Caddo Lake...
(population 1,219 in the 2000 census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...
) and made his living there as an automobile dealer.
Previously, Hopkins, had been an alderman
Alderman
An alderman is a member of a municipal assembly or council in many jurisdictions founded upon English law. The term may be titular, denoting a high-ranking member of a borough or county council, a council member chosen by the elected members themselves rather than by popular vote, or a council...
and mayor
Mayor
In many countries, a Mayor is the highest ranking officer in the municipal government of a town or a large urban city....
of Oil City. In 1979, he was elected to the Caddo Parish Police Jury, which became the Caddo Parish Commission in December 1984. Hopkins was elected by his colleagues as the first president of the Caddo Parish Commission. Two Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
commissioners, Tommy Gene Armstrong
Tommy Armstrong (Louisiana politician)
Tommy Gene Armstrong is a businessman from Shreveport, Louisiana, who served as a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1991-1992. He filled the unexpired term of the Democrat, Robert P. "Bobby" Waddell, who resigned to become a state district court judge...
and Lloyd E. Lenard
Lloyd E. Lenard
Lloyd Edgar Lenard was an American businessman from Shreveport, and a former Caddo Parish commissioner, author, United States Navy officer, civic leader, and a pioneer in the establishment of the two-party system in his native Louisiana.-Family, education, military:Lenard was born to James Lenard...
, served thereafter as the second and third presidents of the commission, respectively.
Hopkins was born in the village of Murchison
Murchison, Texas
Murchison is a city in Henderson County, Texas, United States. The population was 592 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Murchison is located at ....
near Athens
Athens, Texas
Athens is a city in Henderson County, Texas, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 12,710. It is the county seat of Henderson County. According to the Texas Legislature, Athens is the "Original Home of the Hamburger"...
in Henderson County, Texas
Henderson County, Texas
As of the census of 2000, there were 73,277 people, 28,804 households, and 20,969 families residing in the county. The population density was 84 people per square mile . There were 35,935 housing units at an average density of 41 per square mile...
. He was a veteran of the United States Army
United States Army
The United States Army is the main branch of the United States Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is the largest and oldest established branch of the U.S. military, and is one of seven U.S. uniformed services...
, having been stationed in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
during the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
.
Hopkins wins five House elections
Hopkins won his House seat when the GOPRepublican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
incumbent
Incumbent
The incumbent, in politics, is the existing holder of a political office. This term is usually used in reference to elections, in which races can often be defined as being between an incumbent and non-incumbent. For example, in the 2004 United States presidential election, George W...
Bruce Newton Lynn, I
Bruce Lynn
Bruce Newton Lynn, I, is a retired north Caddo Parish businessman and banker who was a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1976–1988. He is a native and resident of the village of Gilliam , where three generations of his family have operated the J.W...
, of Gilliam
Gilliam, Louisiana
Gilliam is a village in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 178 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-History:...
decided not to seek re-election in 1987. Hopkins defeated the Fourth Congressional District Republican chairman, Kenneth "Ken" Frazier, and a fellow Democrat, Norbert Johnson. Hopkins polled 6,756 votes (53 percent) to Frazier's 5,128 (40 percent), and Johnson's 813 ballots (6 percent). Frazier's campaign against Hopkins was the last to have been managed by former State Republican Chairman George Joseph Despot
George Despot
George Joseph Despot was a Shreveport businessman and a pioneer in the establishment of a competitive Republican Party in the U.S. state of Louisiana. He was the state Republican chairman from 1978-1985...
(1927–1991) of Shreveport
Shreveport, Louisiana
Shreveport is the third largest city in Louisiana. It is the principal city of the fourth largest metropolitan area in the state of Louisiana and is the 109th-largest city in the United States....
.
Another Republican, David Hunter, tried unsuccessfully to defeat Hopkins in 1991. Hopkins polled 8,187 (73 percent) to Hunter's 2,964 (27 percent). Republicans left Hopkins unopposed in the 1995, 1999, and 2003 primaries. However, two Democrats, attorney Kirby Kelly and Philip Green, challenged him in 2003. Hopkins received 6,861 votes that year to Kelly's 2,322 (24 percent) and Green's 606 ballots (6 percent)
His legislative tenure
In the House, Hopkins supported the LSU Health Sciences Center in Shreveport and the establishment of the Louisiana State Oil and Natural Gas Museum in Oil City. He also wrote legislation that divided riverboatRiverboat
A riverboat is a ship built boat designed for inland navigation on lakes, rivers, and artificial waterways. They are generally equipped and outfitted as work boats in one of the carrying trades, for freight or people transport, including luxury units constructed for entertainment enterprises, such...
taxes among local governments.
The Shreveport Times, his regional newspaper, described Hopkins as having a great sense of humor and a "biting wit" but "adept at getting bills passed and maneuvering behind the scenes to kill legislation he opposed." Hopkins was a veteran member of the important House Appropriations Committee. He was elected by the legislative delegation of the Fourth Congressional District to serve as its representative on the state House panel.
A colleague and close friend, Representative Billy Montgomery
Billy Montgomery
Billy Wayne Montgomery, often known as Coach Montgomery , is a former educator who represented the Bossier City-based District 9 in the Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988-2008...
, a Democrat-turned-Republican from Haughton
Haughton, Louisiana
Haughton is a town in Bossier Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Shreveport–Bossier City Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Haughton is located at ....
in Bossier Parish, told the Shreveport Times that Hopkins was a "team player" who had a good relationship with almost everybody. . . . He led because people liked him so much."
Hopkins authored a bill to provide health benefits to lawmakers who had served prior to the installation of term limits. The bill passed, but Democratic Governor Kathleen Babineaux Blanco vetoed the bill at the "urging of Republican lawmakers, many of whom had voted for the legislation ... People never understood that Hoppy wasn't doing that for himself. He was just thinking about other members. He already had [his own] insurance ... and retirement," Montgomery explained.
Representative Wayne Waddell
Wayne Waddell
Wayne Leo Waddell is a Shreveport businessman and a Republican former member of the Louisiana House of Representatives from District 5 in Caddo Parish...
, a Shreveport Republican first elected in a 1997 special election to succeed Republican Roy L. Brun
Roy Brun
Roy Louis Brun is a First Judicial District state judge in Shreveport , who was a Republican member of the Louisiana state Louisiana House of Representatives from 1988-1997...
, who became a state district judge, said that he voted for the health-benefits bill because it "means too much to Hoppy."
Then House Speaker Joe Salter, a Democrat from Florien
Florien, Louisiana
Florien is a village in Sabine Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 692 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Florien is located at .According to the United States Census Bureau, the village has a total area of , all land....
in Sabine Parish
Sabine Parish, Louisiana
Sabine Parish is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The seat of the parish is Many. In 2010, the parish's population was 24,233....
, said that Hopkins could not be pressured to support or oppose legislation. Salter noted that the commissioner of administration once threatened Hopkins about projects in north Caddo Parish. "Hoppy told him to go ahead and pull the damn things, but he wasn't voting" as the commissioner requested, Salter said.
Billy Montgomery told The Times that ethics laws were unneeded for legislators like Hopkins: "He just had common sense, and he was a good person. If you want to pattern yourself, as an alderman, a small town mayor or a member of a legislature, he's the pattern to follow."
An avid golf
Golf
Golf is a precision club and ball sport, in which competing players use many types of clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a golf course using the fewest number of strokes....
er and hunter, Hopkins was a member of the Monterey Country Club in Vivian
Vivian, Louisiana
Vivian, is a town in Caddo Parish, Louisiana, United States and is home to the Red Bud Festival. The population was 4,031 at the 2000 census...
and was among a regular group of House members who managed to play nine holes of golf before morning committee meetings during legislative sessions, noted The Times. The same was also said of an earlier occupant of the north Caddo House seat, James H. "Jimmy" Wilson (1931–1986), a Democrat and later Republican from Vivian.
Last rites
Hopkins is survived by his wife, the former Rosemarie "Rose" Duddeck (born 1945), and two sons, Todd Andreas Hopkins (born 1963) and wife Karen Hopkins and Garry Romain Hopkins (born 1966), all of Oil City; four sisters, Alma Lee Thompson and Opal McCool, both of Fort WorthFort Worth, Texas
Fort Worth is the 16th-largest city in the United States of America and the fifth-largest city in the state of Texas. Located in North Central Texas, just southeast of the Texas Panhandle, the city is a cultural gateway into the American West and covers nearly in Tarrant, Parker, Denton, and...
, Fayreen Tiner of Tyler
Tyler, Texas
Tyler is a city in and the county seat of Smith County, Texas, in the United States. It takes its name from President John Tyler . The city had a population of 109,000 in 2010, according to the United States Census Bureau...
, and Bonnie Ruth Holsomback of Frankston
Frankston, Texas
Frankston is a town in Anderson County, Texas, United States. The population was 1,209 at the 2000 census. Frankston was named for Frankie Miller, a young woman who donated land for the downtown city park.-Geography:...
, Texas; one brother, Joe Dan Hopkins of Jacksonville
Jacksonville, Texas
Jacksonville is located in Cherokee County, Texas, United States. The population was 13,868 at the 2000 census. It is the principal city of the Jacksonville Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Cherokee County and part of the larger Tyler-Jacksonville Combined Statistical...
, Texas; three grandchildren, Brandon Hopkins, Rachel Garlington, and Meredith LeBlanc, and two great-grandchildren.
Services were held on November 28, 2006, in the 300-seat United Pentecostal Church
Pentecostalism
Pentecostalism is a diverse and complex movement within Christianity that places special emphasis on a direct personal experience of God through the baptism in the Holy Spirit, has an eschatological focus, and is an experiential religion. The term Pentecostal is derived from Pentecost, the Greek...
of Oil City, with the Reverends Johnny Peden, Gerald Trammell, and H. A. McFarland officiating. Todd Hopkins eulogized his father as "my mentor, ... my hero, and my friend. We will miss him, but we know that he is in a better place. He fought a good fight." When the church sanctuary filled, mourners were directed to an overflow area in the gymnasium.
Speaker Salter told the mourners that "Hoppy was always faithful in terms of his service. Even when he was ill, he would come to the sessions. He demonstrated his desire to serve in spite of his illness." Salter added that Hopkins was "tremendously brave when he faced death. He talked about it and made plans. And he never questioned why. It was quite a testimony the way he faced death."
Governor Blanco arrived in Oil City, having first attended the inauguration of outgoing state Representative Cedric Bradford Glover
Cedric Glover
Cedric Bradford Glover is the Democratic mayor of Shreveport, Louisiana -- the first African American to hold the position.Outgoing Mayor Keith Hightower was term-limited in 2006, after having won election in both 1998 and 2002...
as the first black mayor of Shreveport. She missed the service itself but attended the burial in Lakeview Memorial Gardens and met privately afterward with Mrs. Hopkins. Pallbearers included Judge Roy Brun, Wayne Taylor, Patrick Wooldridge, Dan Turner, Dr. John Haynes, and Charlie Alexander. Hopkins and Brun were initially elected to the legislature in 1987 and developed an interparty friendship over the years.
The Hopkins family requested memorials to the Oil and Gas Museum in Oil City 71601. Oil City is located on Louisiana Highway 1 north of Caddo Lake and south of the Arkansas
Arkansas
Arkansas is a state located in the southern region of the United States. Its name is an Algonquian name of the Quapaw Indians. Arkansas shares borders with six states , and its eastern border is largely defined by the Mississippi River...
state line.
Hopkins was honored two months before his death by the naming of "Roy 'Hoppy' Hopkins Drive", the entrance to the Caddo Parish Ward II Industrial Park near Vivian.
In a special election
By-election
A by-election is an election held to fill a political office that has become vacant between regularly scheduled elections....
held on February 24, 2007, to choose Hopkins' successor, the Republican Jim Morris
Jim Morris (Louisiana politician)
James Hollis Morris, known as Jim Morris is a businessman from Oil City in northern Caddo Parish, Louisiana, who is a Republican member of the Louisiana House of Representatives. His District 1 encompasses the northern portions of both Caddo and neighboring Bossier Parish...
, a Caddo Parish commissioner, received 69 percent of the vote and defeated two other Republicans and two Democrats. Morris then won a full term in the nonpartisan blanket primary held on October 20, 2007.