‘A quiet leader.' Miami Air Force veteran who inspired others dies at 92
One of Hopkins' sons said that even though he was a 'quiet leader,' his presence spoke volumes.
'He would say, when you walk in the room, people want to know who you are,' said son Stephen Hopkins, 65. 'When you leave the room they will want to know who you were.'
Leonard Hopkins, 92, died of prostate cancer on Sunday, July 13 at Bruce W. Carter Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center.
The Brownsville resident was born at his family's Coconut Grove home on June 17, 1933. His father built the home in which Leonard and his nine siblings grew up. From a young age, Leonard used to go to his Bahamian grandfather's bicycle shop on Charles Avenue.
'He had a thing about mechanics since he was very little,' said Donald Hopkins, 83., one of Leonard's brothers. With a passion for mechanics, Leonard Hopkins went to Lindsey Hopkins Technical School days after he graduated from high school to study aviation. Because of racism, however, Hopkins was turned away and instead joined the U.S. Air Force.
That decision ended up changing his life.
Hopkins served in the Korean War aboard a B-36 airplane that he said had enough fuel to travel around the world in a single trip. The racism Leonard experienced in the United States only made him want to excel more in the Air Force.
'Miami was segregated and there was discrimination when [we] grew up,' Donald Hopkins said. 'It was irritating, but it was also motivating. That was strong motivation for a lot of Black folks in the days when U.S. society was even more discriminatory than now.'
Donald Hopkins remembers the day about 10 years ago when he and Lelo — his nickname for his brother — talked about the nuts and bolts of the airplane.
'I just remember hearing from time to time, 'That was the plane I flew when I was in the Air Force,' ' he said. 'I was in my mid-70s then. I was just learning this because he had never talked about it before. I then arranged and shipped to him a model of the B-36.'
After Donald sent Leonard the model airplane, Leonard Hopkins visited the National Museum of the U.S. Air Force. Hopkins knew the B-36 on display so well that he corrected a tour guide and ended up telling other visitors about the plane.
When he finished his Air Force service, Hopkins returned to Miami and worked as a mechanic at Greyhound for more than 30 years. Hopkins never seemed to complain about anything. But as a military veteran, one subject made him unhappy.
'One of my sisters said to me that I don't recall seeing Lelo complain about anything other than the political situation in the U.S. right now,' Donald Hopkins said.
Leonard Hopkins' passion for airplanes came only second to his passion for family life. If he wasn't at work or with his family, he was nearby at a friend's house. When dinner was ready, Stephen would go down the street to let his dad know.
'That's the thing that stands out with me as a father and a husband,' Stephen Hopkins said. 'If I'm not at work, I'm at home every night. The furthest he would be was at a best friend's house three houses down. They would sit around and talk about different things like war stories. He was truly a family man.'
Leonard Hopkins is survived by three sons and their wives, 12 grandchildren and 17 great-grandchildren.
Range Funeral Home is handling arrangements. Funeral services will be July 23 at the South Florida National Cemetery in western Lake Worth in Palm Beach County.
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Living on junk food gave me acne, a leaky gut and MS – here's how I got well again
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Luckily, he's into eating healthily too, and even went on a plant-based diet with me. We married in 2017, and still encourage each other to eat healthily – eating colourful salads or dishes full of vegetables. I found that running really helped with my stress levels, and I even went on to run the London marathon the year I turned 50. The changes in my diet and stress levels showed up in my body – I lost weight, my skin improved, and my MS symptoms, including the eye inflammation, disappeared. When it comes to my diet, I live by the 90/10 rule – if I have 10 per cent of unhealthy foods, I know I need to have 90 per cent of gut-friendly healthy foods. I still have the odd alcoholic drink, but I pick ones which are low in sugar, such as champagne. When it comes to eating out at restaurants, I choose the healthiest thing on the menu, such as a salad with protein. I also avoid over-processed foods and anything with too much sugar in it. Luckily, I didn't need any medication. Instead, I found that cutting out inflammatory foods, healing my gut and lowering my stress levels were the most important things my body needed. I'm now 53 and have never felt more healthy. In my 40s, my eye flicker returned but when I went to the GP, they suggested I rest and keep up my healthy lifestyle. Since then, I haven't had another symptom in 10 years and my MS is classed as inactive. I'm also working as a registered health coach, helping others take control of their health in the same way as I did. I can't believe I used to think junk food would fuel me, and never connected my health problems to my diet. I now live by the saying 'food is either fighting disease or feeding it' – for years, I was feeding it. I'm just so glad that I took action with my diet when I did, and fixed my leaky gut with food which nourishes my body. As told to Sarah Finley Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. 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