Obituary of Willma Hopper

Willma Hopper, of Broken Bow, passed away Saturday, April 14, 2007, four days before her 88th birthday, at Texarkana, Texas. She was born on April 18, 1919 in a sawmill camp at Watson Oklahoma to Maude Brooks and Charlie Veazey. Willma’s family moved to Pinehurst, Idaho when she was 6 years old. By taking 2 grades at a time she graduated from Pinehurst High School when she was 12 years old. She then attended Kinman Business College in Spokane, Washington. She was so much younger than the other students that she studied instead of socializing and by some accounts graduated from college at age 14. She worked at the college for a while and then went to work keeping books at her dad’s sawmill. It was there she met her future husband, Odell Hopper. They started dating in the fall of 1941 and were married on Valentines Day in 1942 at Missoula, Montana. Her dad loaned them the money to buy a 40 acre ranch. They continued to work at the sawmill as well as the ranch for the next 6 years. In 1950 they bought a ranch near Smithville, Oklahoma and moved there. In 1951 she gave birth to her only child, Charlie Hopper. In 1954 they returned to Idaho where they built and ran a convenience store and again worked in the sawmill. In 1957 they sold the store and traded the ranch in Oklahoma for a convenience store and motel in Goldthwaite, Texas. They ran these and a ranch near Goldthwaite until 1965 when Odell got into the telephone contracting business. She continued to run the store and motel, and later just the store until the early 70s. At this time they sold the store and she worked as an administrator at a nursing home in Goldthwaite for the next 5 years. After this she returned to being a homemaker. In 1974 she moved her parents from Idaho to Texas and took care of them for the next 5 years. Willma was an avid reader and had a 12’ by 12’ library that was completely full of books. She was a musician and played piano, harmonica and guitar. She painted and also did embroidery. People gladly paid for her embroidery work. In 1997 they sold their place in Goldthwaite and returned to Broken Bow to spend their remaining years. Willma was preceded in death by her parents and 2 brothers, Ralph and Floyd Veazey. She leaves to cherish her memory her husband, Odell, of the home: son, Charlie, of Dale, Texas; other relatives and a host of friends. Services will be 2:00 p.m. Tuesday, April 17, 2007 at the Conley-White Chapel in Broken Bow with Rev. Oscar Wilkie officiating. Interment will follow in the Smithville Cemetery.