David Hopwood remembered as a nature lover

Herbert David Alexander Hopwood was yesterday remembered by many as a lover of nature during a memorial service at the St Andrew Parish Church.

This love was reflected in the floral arrangements with hanging butterflies that were placed on either side of his cremated remains.

Hopwood was the former owner of H.D. Hopwood, a distribution company started by his father.

His daughter, Jennifer Hopwood, remembers snorkelling with him at the reef in Silver Sands, Trelawny, and added that her love for food, travel, and nature were gifts from her father.

“He gave us an appreciation of life in Jamaica – the heritage and the culture,” she said.

Robert Hopwood described his father as a humanitarian with a love for the environment, stating that Hopwood would be most displeased when hillsides were being cleared.

Robert recalled fond memories of spending time with his dad on the family’s cattle farm in Lilyfield, St Ann, where pimento and coffee were also planted.

love for the outdoors

Stephanie Powell, who was one of Hopwood’s caregivers for more than six years until the time of his death, said that he was a “gentle, kind, and loving person”.

“Even though he was sick, he was a person who loved people and he liked to go out, so we used to do a lot of that. I would take him to different places – places he hadn’t seen in a long time. He loved to go to Silver Sands,” Powell said.

She recalled that she took him out for a walk the Sunday before he died, when the poui trees were blooming.

“When he looked and saw all the leaves on the tree, he was, like, ‘Lovely!’ He hadn’t said anything for a long time and he said, ‘Lovely!’ ... . He loved butterflies and he loved poui trees. He was a man of nature,” Powell added.

Hopwood’s remains were interred at the church’s columbarium, a location he and his wife, Andrea, had invested in. The structure, which has multiple units, was once the home of a 100-year-old cotton tree.

In an effort to preserve the tree, the couple carried in a tree surgeon to cut off the damaged branches. It flourished but was later destroyed by a storm.

The Right Reverend Dr Robert Thompson, Suffragan Bishop of Kingston, said the Hopwoods were supportive of the work of the parish church.

“We felt that it was the appropriate place because we had the space now, having removed the tree, and they were most supportive of that,” he said.

Hopwood died on March 28 after a period of illness.

judana.murphy@gleanerjm.com