Daniel (Danny) Ray Hopkins

Danny Hopkins, 60, was born July 27, 1950, in Kansas City to James and Betty (Vittetoe) Hopkins. He joined his Lord and Savior on Nov. 19, 2010, at his home in Willard.

He graduated from the El Dorado Springs High School in 1968. He served in the US Navy during the Vietnam War. He went to work for Zenith in Springfield and spent the next 24 years there but, after their closing, went back to college and graduated on the Dean’s List. He was always interested in fire safety, was a volunteer fireman and for many years and was Captain of the Willard Fire Department for several years and was always on call as long as his health permitted.

Danny was a musician who played with several great bluegrass bands and shared the stage with many of Nashville’s top stars.
He was sought out by many fiddle players because of the great rhythm work he provided on flattop guitar. His ability to play banjo was unique and many banjo pickers tried to imitate his style of banjo playing. He learned to play banjo and other stringed instruments by the age of 14. He and his brother, Dale, provided the family with great music at all of their gatherings and played lots of music at home.

He was a member of the Lights of Home Bluegrass Band where he sang the baritone part. He will be sadly missed by so many bluegrass players and fans from across the four-state area.

Danny was also a very talented and great teacher at OTC in Springfield where he taught Fire Science Technology since 1997.
His students wrote a wonderful tribute to him in which they stated he was an awesome teacher, tough but fair and that he went far beyond the book to teach them. He felt like they were there to learn and he stated he hoped he’d touched some of their lives in his classes.

He was preceded in death by his brother, Dale, in 2005.

He is survived by his wife, Belinda, and her two children, Mark Dalton and Angie Needham; one daughter, Anna Charlene; four grandkids – Caiden, Kimberly, Kennedy and Kylie; his parents, Jim and Betty Hopkins; two sisters, Robin Fugate, and husband, Harold, and Kim Collins; one brother, Todd, and wife, Kallie – Springfield; several aunts, uncles, and nieces and nephews.

Services were held Nov. 23 at White Chapel. Music was provided by CD’s of Danny and Dale and Lights of Home. Pallbearers were musicians – Roy Craft, Bill LeAn, Mark Craft, Junior Haddock, Bob Lock and Jerry Schiman.