Bernard Hopkins

One of the most delightful people I have ever known was Bernard "Red" Hopkins who was at Inglewood School District when I went there in 1966. Red was a devout Catholic and had served as Director of Athletics at Loyola University before getting his PhD and coming to work at Inglewood. He was highly respected at Loyola and when they had some problems in their graduate school with the areas of School Law and School Finance, Red recommended me as a professor. I taught there for three years on a part time basis and was able to bring their program up to par in the two areas.

Red was an avid fisherman but seldom went out because he was involved at Loyola University and at Daniel Freeman Hospital. However, I was able to take him fishing on my boat on many weekends and he was a lot of fun. We were sometimes able to take his youngest son, Pat, who was a teen ager and was very enthusiastic. Pat and I observed a pod of grey whales in the Catalina Channel. One surfaced beside the boat and really startled Pat.

After I retired Red became Business Manager of El Segundo School District where he suffered a fatal heart attack. I went back to work for a few months to fill in for him.