GLOUCESTER: Edward B. Hopkins, 84, of 13 Cunningham Road died unexpectedly at the Addison Gilbert Hospital Friday morning, March 5, 2010. He was the husband of the late Sadie L. (Mondello) Hopkins, who died in May of 2006. They had shared fifty-eight years of marriage.
Born on Ten Pound Island on December 1, 1925, he was the son of the late Edward H. and Evelyn M. (Douglas) Hopkins.
He is known to be the last living resident of the island. As such, his first hand knowledge of the Gloucester waterfront brought him to become fast friends with the late author Edward Rowe Snow. Snow was a prolific writer widely known for his stories of pirates and nautical subjects. Ed first came to know him as the famous Flying Santa who dropped wrapped Christmas gifts to lighthouse keepers and their families.
A U.S. Navy veteran of World War II, he served aboard the USS Vicksburg and was honorably discharged in May of 1946. He was a former member of the Capt. Lester S. Wass Post #3, American Legion.
Mr. Hopkins was employed for over forty years as an oil burner technician for the John Alden Griffin Company. For over twenty-five years, he and Sadie ran the Deer Run Campground in Jefferson, New Hampshire.
In his earlier years, he ran party boats out of Gloucester for Joe Frontiero. He had also fished aboard the f/v Annie for a short time for the Gilardi Brothers.
He is survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Evelyn F. and Dennis A. Howard, his son and daughter-in-law, Edward F. “Hoppy” Hopkins and Bonnie Cowper, three grandchildren, David Howard, Gwendolyn, wife of Gary Bachinsky, Danielle Hopkins, fiancée of Michael DeCoste, two great-grandsons, Caleb and Aiden DeCoste, nephew, Donald, husband of Nancy Clifford and cousins, Robert Stephenson and Richard, husband of Connie Stephenson. He also leaves four brothers-in-law and three sisters-in-law, Eugene Mondello, Frank Mondello, Joseph and Virginia Mondello, Leo and Virginia Mondello and Gail Mondello. He was also predeceased by his grandson, Edward S. Hopkins, sister and her husband, Dorothy and Clarence Clifford, sister, Grace Hopkins and infant brother, Steven Hopkins.
His funeral service will be held on Tuesday morning in the Pike-Grondin Funeral Home, 61 Middle Street, Gloucester at 10 a.m. Visiting hours will be held on Monday evening from 5 – 8 p.m. Relatives and friends are cordially invited to attend.
Interment will be held in the Beechbrook Cemetery.