Harold Marsh Hopkins
Feb 26, 1923 - Sep 14, 2015
Posted by: Jo Aguirre

Harold Hopkins, 92 of Orlando passed from this life on Sept 14, 2015.

Graveside services will be held at 2 pm, Thursday, September 17, 2015 at Grace Hill Cemetery Pavilion under the direction of Palmer Marler Carberry Funeral Home, Perry, Oklahoma.

Harold was born in Roswell, New Mexico on February 26, 1923 to Charles and Sue Hopkins. He graduated from Gaston High School in Henderson, Texas in 1940. He volunteered for the Army Air Force, which became a family tradition including his nephew Ret. Major William Hopkins. Harold was sent to Yale University where he studied bomb sight calibration and maintenance. He was deployed to England until the end of World War II, returning to the United States in August of 1945.He married Gloria Kemnitz on November 18, 1945 at the Rose Chapel at Boston Ave. United Methodist Church in Tulsa. Harold was employed by Noble Drilling Company in 1947, where he served in numerous positions until retiring in 1986. Most notably, he helped establish Noble’s first employee safety program in the Gulf Coast Division. He later transferred to Tulsa, Oklahoma and worked to expand the safety program to all of the Noble Company districts. His career took him from coast to coast and from North Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico. During this time Noble Drilling maintained one of the best safety records in the industry.

Harold was preceded in death by his parents; a brother, Lieutenant Colonel Charles Hopkins Jr; and his son Charles Rodney Hopkins, who both also served in the United States Air Force.

Harold is survived by his wife of 69 years, Gloria, of the home and his daughter Deborah Ann Brown and her husband Mickey Brown of Perry, Oklahoma; two grandsons John Brown of Overland Park, Kansas and Jeff Brown of Perry, Oklahoma; one granddaughter, Nikki Hopkins of Mesa, Arizona, three great granddaughters, one great grandson, and one nephew, William Hopkins of Denver, Colorado.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to the staff of Carter Hospice for their care and compassion.

The family request no flowers or gifts. Appropriate memorials are suggested to the Wounded Warriors Project or a charity of your choice, in care of Palmer Marler Funeral Home 203 Fir Street. Perry, OK 73077