Claude William "Bill" Hopper III

Athens, Ga. – Bill Hopper passed away on Friday, November 11, 2022. He was a proud native of Waynesboro, Georgia—the birddog capital of the world. He was born on August 11, 1960 and was the eldest child of C.W. “Billy” Hopper, Jr. and Marianne Bevan Hopper.

Bill graduated from Edmund Burke Academy in 1978 and the University of Georgia in 1982. During his first quarter at UGA, he met the true love of his life, Donna Harvey, and they were married on May 26, 1984 in Athens, Georgia, which remained their home for the entirety of their marriage. In 1983 he began his career at the First National Bank of Athens, which later became SunTrust. He continued to serve the Athens community through his work at SunTrust for 19 years until joining the National Bank of Georgia in 2002. He served as the president and CEO of NBG for 9 years until the time of NBG’s merger with State Bank and Trust (now Cadence) in 2016. Community was a primary tenant of Bill’s values, and with the help and vision of many friends, his passion for building a community bank for Athens led to the creation of Classic City Bank in 2020.

All who knew Bill knew him to be a humble, consistent, loyal and generous servant of God. Of these, his greatest qualities reflected the teachings of his father, who passed away 9 months before him. While he was known as a guiding light to most, he sought his own wisdom in the scripture and in the legacy of his father. His work ethic and diligence were unmatched. His competitive nature was well known to anyone who spent time with him on a golf course or witnessed his occasional ferocity as his son’s little league baseball coach. His intentionality was evident in his every word and action, and his strength and dignity permeated every room he entered.

Until moving to Athens for college, Bill spent his childhood in his own version of Mayberry, where he truly felt his father was the Andy Taylor to his Opie. It was there that his love for the outdoors was cultivated. He communed with God most from the seat of his deer stand while watching the sunrise surrounded by God’s living garment. And when the Georgia heat relented in the fall, he spent his Sunday afternoons laying corn for the deer or bobbing in a Jon boat at his favorite fishing hole. To no one’s surprise, on those afternoons, Donna could be found riding in his truck’s passenger seat or reading a magazine on the bench seat of his boat. Since the bank was closed for Veterans Day on the day of his passing, Bill and Donna spent the morning doing just that.

He had a fondness of athletics—another attribute he inherited from his father. Bill believed the character of a person was best molded on a ball field. It is there he felt children could learn to have humility in success and grace in failings. In conversation, it never took long for much of Bill’s banter to meander back to the topics of Georgia football or the often-embellished musings of his time playing high school football, basketball, and golf. On one of the very best days of his life, he played 18 holes tucked away in the pines and azaleas of Augusta National, only 35 miles from his hometown. At the end of the day, he texted Donna, “Heaven must be like this,” followed by, “Played horrible. Who cares.” A football season later, Bill watched his beloved Bulldawgs clench their second national championship of his lifetime, and Donna drove him down Broad Street as the crowds gathered and the chapel bell tolled.

If you made it out of a conversation with Bill without discussing athletics, then you must have landed on his more favored topic: his family. He would boast that his only accomplishment in life was raising his children with his best friend. As he guided his children in their own walks of life, he often reminded them, “Anything worth doing is worth doing well,” but most remarkably, he demonstrated this lesson through his actions. He was the most devoted father and husband. He was the lighthouse at the end of University Drive where Bill and Donna raised their family for 27 years. Though his work hours were long and his weekends often involved trips to the office, it can honestly be said that he never missed one of Bevan or McGee’s multitude of sporting events with the exception of one basketball game in the days following the passing of Donna’s mother, when he stayed home to be with his wife.

His love of music was vast and largely influenced by the songs he first learned picking peaches and apples during his college summers back home in Burke County. In his later years, you may have heard the whispers of Bill’s favorite tunes spilling through the screen of their back deck and down Old Ag Hill, while the smell of a good steak wafted from his grill and Donna sat beside him in their rocking chairs. With a good glass of cabernet in hand, he spent some of his most cherished evenings there alongside his best friend.

Bill, like his father, was a man of great faith. On Sundays, the Hoppers could be found at the First Baptist Church of Athens—the church where he was married, his children were baptized, and he walked his daughter down the aisle on her wedding day. On the Sunday before his passing, after Georgia beat Tennessee, he attended church in his gameday polo, taught the Young Couples’ Sunday school class alongside Donna, and honored his father during the All Saints’ Day service. It was a good day.

Though we know not what awaits us in the Kingdom of Heaven, it is certain that Bill Hopper now rests in a rocking chair beside the throne of his Heavenly Father, reunited with his worldly father, and waiting patiently to greet the love of his life when it is her time to join him.

Bill is preceded in death by his father: Claude William “Billy” Hopper, Jr. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Donna Harvey Hopper, and his mother, Marianne Bevan Hopper. He is also survived by his two children: William Bevan Hopper and Mary McGee Hopper Berding (Sam). In addition to his children, he is survived by his two siblings: Nell Hopper Dixon (Herbie) and John Frederick "Rick" Hopper (Lisa) as well as his uncle, Frank Bevan (Ann) and numerous cousins, nieces and nephews. He is further survived by countless lifelong friends in the Athens community and beyond.

A memorial service will be held at the First Baptist Church of Athens on Wednesday, November 16, 2022 at 2:00pm. Senior Minister Matt Marston and Director of Music Tom Granum will officiate the service. The family will receive friends and family in the Fellowship Hall immediately following the service. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the First Baptist Church of Athens, 355 Pulaski Street, Athens, GA 30601.

Bernstein Funeral Home is overseeing the arrangements.