I just saw that Russell passed way last summer.   He was a great guy who had a lot of difficult things happen to him. A good friend.    He will be missed.  My sincerest condolences to his family.

This kind, funny, pure soul, was our friend, a brother, an uncle and an absolute best man he could be from when I met him at Calvin Coolidge School in West Peoria in the late 60's.
We had a large group of buddies who went to Missouri canoeing and camping. 
I moved from Peoria to Lafayette, IN, in 2021.
The canoe trips, the family get together with Marshall Hopkins and the whole family meant so much to me.
It's about him, how kind and funny and caring he was.
I have a photo of him, from one  of our canoe trips in Missouri. He had won a trivia question, I think. He won the prize, a tiny sparkling high heel shoe! A little bigger than Barbie's foot. He was so proud to win that prize, and the photo is so precious.
We had such a fabulous time! 
So if any of you can find this photo of him on my Fb photos, accepting a tiny sparkly plastic slipper, we will all be laughing with him in heaven to see that photo!! 
I took the photo on another phone and have been taking care of my sister for 2 months in Mexico and don't have access to that damned device.
If ya need to friend me to look through the photos,please do that.
This photo is the guy I knew, from grade school until this year, even if we didn't see each other a lot in the last 5 years.
For 2 years, we lived down the street from each other in the Heights. 
Thanks Mama Hopkins, for letting us hang out at your home in grade school! 
Even though I stayed at PHS, and his family moved to Eureka, we still had summers together and we were neighbors,  schoolmates and vest friends for decades.
We'll all remember his cute giggle, irreverent jokes, love and kindness.

Posting this may help me with some closure. I feel terrible for missing Russell's service. When you don't check your voicemail or get a paper, that happens. Russell and I had lots of laughs together,...the time we ate that 5 pound bass we caught with a can of veg-all, drinking in the cemetery, trippin at Matheson, going to see Todd(fun times), just to name a few.  Russell called me a couple weeks before his passing. We had a long talk, not near as long as the one after losing the job at Royal's. The question of heaven and hell was brought up. If heaven exists, Russell is there.  What a sweet soul, lover of music, nature, friends and family. Love you Crusty! Rest in Peace.

Mark and Ellen Marjanovich

I was lucky to have gotten to be around Russell multiple times in the past, being good friends with his baby sister Karen for years....he truly is one of the funniest people I've met and I still laugh thinking about some of the memories made with Russell and Karen.  Recalling the time we went to see Todd Rundgren in Indianapolis and he and I drove others in the line crazy saying Hello?  It's me! to people walking by, or asking if we can still be friends....always silly, always fun.   Eating out in restaurants was always an experience with Bucket, I still laugh thinking of going to Chili's and laughing so hard we could hardly eat.  His joy was infectious and it was always fun if he was there.  My sympathies to the family, I hope your good memories comfort you at this difficult time.

Bigelow Street was a long time ago but it just seems like yesterday. You sure will be missed buddy see you on the other side.

Russell stands out in my childhood memories, mostly from age 10-17.  He was loved by all The  Burnetts for his humor, was a good-natured troublemaker along the lines of an Eddie Haskell. But nothing stood out for me more than his love of Todd Rundgren’s brilliant music. His love of Todd influenced my brothers Kelly and Chris and sisters Lisa and Val, and me.  I wrote a song specifically to imitate Todd’s style, but I never knew if Russell heard my CD recording of it. Maybe Kelly or Chris played it for him somewhere along the way after I released the CD. The album, The Light Of Day, was a compilation of my original songs and the track I’m referring to is “I Can’t Take This.” I definitely had Russell and all Todd fans in mind when I wrote it. 

Rock on in the eternal life, Russell! 

Peace and love, 

Johnny Burnett

I worked with Russ for about 20 years. During those 20 years, we worked a lot of overtime so I spent my fair share of time working within 20 feet of this guy. I have a TON of stories I could share about him. Some are probably not appropriate here, but if you knew him, you would know exactly what I mean. We butted heads at times, and he was probably the only person who I let get away with things nobody else would have. It wasn’t that I felt sorry for him, it was that I knew he was just a good human being, but sometimes a bad “comedian”.  Fortunately, we spent the majority of our time joking around, and listening to him talk about all of his hobbies like his obituary mentioned. I’ll never hear a Todd Rundgren song and not think about RW. (That’s what we called him in the shop). Rest easy Bucket!

I am so very sorry to hear of Russell passing.   He was always so fun and never had a bad word for anyone.

Dear Hopkins family, Russell’s obituary is the most beautiful one that I have ever read. He’s got to be so proud of the memorial that his family wrote about him. I’m sure that he is blushing and beaming with pride at the same time.

Very sorry for your loss.
Russell was one of a kind!
R. I.P. my friend.

Dear sweet Russell. He was kind, gregarious, witty and brought light to us all. Such a wealth of knowledge about Todd and all music! A treasure. He is missed by all who knew him. May the memories of his personality lift you up.

OBITUARY

Russell Wayne Hopkins

August 9, 1956 – August 7, 2024

Davison-Fulton Woodland Chapel & Parkview Cemetery

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