Eunice Avinelle Hopkins

Eunice Avinelle Snipes was born July 25, 1922, in New Albany, MS, the seventh and last child of Luther Sion and Lucy Viola Randle Snipes. When she was 5 or 6, Avinelle’s family moved to Bissell, MS, near Tupelo, where she lived when, as a beautiful young woman, she met Forrest Lehman Hopkins, stationed at Columbus MS Air Force Base. They married Jan. 1, 1944, in Bissell. Forrest called her Nelle. She remained Avinelle to Mississippi family and friends and was Nelle to Forrest’s family and to friends everywhere thereafter. Though Avinelle moved far from family and friends in MS, her southern roots and her love of her life there was ever evident.

The young Hopkins family moved to Wayne Township, OH, near Circleville, in 1947, where Nelle was welcomed by wonderful folks who became lifelong friends. Forrest and Nelle remained in Wayne Township until 2013 when Forrest passed away. At that time, Nelle moved to Boise, ID, to live with her daughter Paula and Brent Harris. In 2017, Nelle moved to Spring Creek Overland Assisted Living, where she recently celebrated her 97th birthday and where she then passed away Sept. 12, 2019.

Some of Nelle’s many interests were playing cards and board games, jigsaw and crossword puzzles, crafting, and making beads for bracelets and necklaces she gave away. Nelle loved music and always had a song in her heart, and often on her lips, and could be heard whistling and humming as she worked. The Lawrence Welk show was a favorite. She liked to fish and also enjoyed spectator sports. She and Forrest attended Cincinnati Reds games with friends.

Nelle had friends, people she loved and cared about, her entire life wherever she was. It can truly be said that the only friends Nelle didn’t have were people she hadn’t yet met. To know Nelle was to love her. To know her was to be loved by her.

Nelle was baptized in the Bissell Baptist Church as a young girl. She was active in both Methodist and Baptist churches at various times and had association with The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints through family members. More important than denomination to Nelle was her faith in God and in Jesus Christ and in striving to be a Christian, which was in evidence every day of her life. Nelle said she awoke each day eager to find the joy in it, and those who knew her shared that joy.

Nelle is survived by her children and their spouses: Darlene (Brent) Glover of St. George, UT; Lucy (Charles) Fowler of Auburn, WA; Paula (Brent) Harris of Boise and Rexburg, ID; and David (Dianne) Hopkins of Circleville, OH. Nelle has 12 grandchildren, 11 great-grandchildren and 2 great-great grandchildren. Her progeny is blessed to have experienced the embrace of her love and her genuine caring for them individually.

Nelle’s family will dearly miss her, holding in their hearts forever her memory, how she made them feel, and the valuable lessons they learned from her and her positive outlook on life. Nelle Hopkins’ legacy to her family and others is a gift: a beautiful and exemplary life defined by faith in Christ, unwavering hope, and charity that touched everyone who had the privilege to know her.

A funeral service will be held Wednesday, Sept. 25, 2019, in Boise, ID. A graveside service and burial, next to Forrest at Springbank Cemetery in Ross County, OH, will be held Wednesday, Oct. 2, at 1:00pm. [Please contact a family member for a copy of a more detailed life sketch of Avinelle/Nelle.]