Polk Today – Your Local Source of News for Polk and the Surrounding Area
Mr. Shelton “Shep” Hopper, age 99, passed away peacefully on August 10, 2022, at his Meadow Lakes Home. He was born in Jacksonville, Alabama, March 19,1923, moving to rural Cave Spring a short time later. He attended Friendship School, Fite School, and graduated from Cave Spring High School. At 16, he joined the National Guard, two years shy of being eligible.
In 1942 he joined the U.S. Navy and served four years as a boatswain mate on the USS Albermarle, a seaplane tender providing fuel to war planes at sea all over the globe. He was one of the few remaining WWII veterans, proudly so. Following honorable discharge from the Navy, he married Marie James of Richmond, Virginia, who predeceased him.
As a trained Master Barber, he owned and operated two barber shops on Main Street in Cedartown for many years. He later reunited with his high school sweetheart, Dorothy McCoy Spencer whom he married on July 21, 1998. Together they spent their winters making friends and memories in New Smyrna Beach, Florida.
An avid golfer and outdoorsman, he was most comfortable in the woods hunting deer, turkey and walking his dogs. Fishing in Alaska for halibut and salmon with his nephew Wayne Watson was a treasured memory.
He is survived by his wife, Dorothy; daughter, Diane Schmidt, of Cumming, GA; a number of nephews and a devoted niece, Kim Hopper Verner, who has provided at-home care along with Amedisys Hospice. In addition, living support and companionship was extended by local nephew Bobby Watson, and his wife Kathi, plus kind, attentive neighbors Dena and Bob Tracy.
Services to celebrate Shep’s life will be held Friday August 12, 2022, at 11:00 AM in the chapel of Smith & Miller Funeral home with Rev. Wayne Benefield officiating.
The family will receive friends Friday, August 12, 2022, from 10:00 AM until 11:00 AM at Smith & Miller Funeral Home.
The family has requested that flowers please be omitted, and memorial donations could be made in his honor to K9s for Warriors, 114 Camp K9 Road, Ponte Vedra, FL. 32081. The Smith & Miller Funeral Home is honored to serve the family of Mr. Shelton “Shep” Hopper.
The former Editor of The Polk County Standard Journal and a journalist with more than a decade of experience in Northwest Georgia, Kevin Myrick is the Editor and Publisher of Polk.Today. An Auburn graduate, a short time hire at Washington Post.Newsweek Interactive, he served as a staff writer and video producer at the Rome News-Tribune before spending the past six years at the helm of the paper, and now moves onto his own news outlet.Additionally, he continues to serve as a Polk County Chamber of Commerce board director since 2019, was a graduate of LEAD Polk's Class of 2018, and has helped with several other organizations around the area.
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Mr. Shelton “Shep” Hopper, age 99, passed away peacefully on August 10, 2022, at his Meadow Lakes Home. He was
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