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Russell Eugene Hopkins
November 21, 1924 ~ January 9, 2022 (age 97) 97 Years Old
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On Sunday, January 9, 2022, Russell E. Hopkins passed away at home in Boise Idaho, at the age of 97. Russ began his life on a family corn farm in Illinois. After marrying the love of his life, Naomi White, they moved to Idaho to begin his 34 year career with Morrison Knudsen. His first job was as an apprentice carpenter, but Russ worked his way up to become project manager constructing freeways, bridges and dams throughout the U.S. along with larger projects such as the NASA Shuttle Runway in Florida. When Russ retired in 1986 he had become Operations Manager of Civil Construction with M-K.
Those who worked with Russ say they considered his work ethic to have been one of his outstanding assets. Russ expertly planned construction projects focusing with emphasis on details. He considered methods in the planning stages to either eliminate or reduce the magnitude of potential problems. This belief and practice was encouraged to be used by all those that worked in his field of influence. Safety was always important to Russ on any job, winning several safety awards from the company over the years.
Many of those who worked with Russ became lifelong friends of the family. In his retirement years, Russ and Naomi were always meeting friends for lunch or dinner and Russ had a standing coffee date with other retirees of Morrison Knudsen. They would swap stories of jobs they had been on and laughter was always abundant. Russ’ other passion was golf that he played every week without fail. While stationed on a job in Hawaii, he was able to make not one, but two hole in ones, leading him to strive the rest of his life for that elusive record once again. Russ is preceded in death by his wife of 75 years, Naomi, his father, Thomas, his mother, Cora, his brothers Everett, Pete, and sister Anna. He is survived by his two children Ron and Sandy, four grandchildren, four great grandchildren, and many cousins, nieces and nephews.
A graveside service will be held at 1PM on January 29th at Terrace Lawn Memorial Gardens located at 4255 Fairview Avenue in Meridian, Idaho under the direction of the Cloverdale Funeral Home.
In lieu of flowers, please send donations to the Russ and Naomi Hopkins Scholarship Fund for Engineering at Boise State University Foundation, 1173 University Drive, Boise, Idaho 83706.
Services
Cemetery
Terrace Lawn Memorial Gardens 4225 E. Fairview Meridian, ID 83642