The Observer Dispatch
Utica, NY Sunday, Sept. 12, 1971
Mrs. Lila Gray, Piano Teacher
Mrs. Lila Howard Gray, Port Jefferson. L.I., formerly of Utica, died yesterday on her 90th birthday in Port Jefferson. She was born in Tannersville, daughter of Ezra and Lucy Seager Howard. She was a graduate of the Emma Wiilard School, Troy. She was married to Leon E. Gray. He died in 1937. The couple lived in Utica for many years. Mrs. Gray was a piano teacher in Utica. She was a member of the Tabernacle Baptist Church, Order of Eastern Star, Daughters of the Nile and the B Sharp Club.
Mrs. Gray leaves two daughters, Mrs. George Hopkinson, New Hartford, and Mrs. Lawrence Daressa, Port Jefferson. The funeral will be at 11 tomorrow from the J. W. Dimbleby Funeral Home. Burial will be in Forest Hill Cemetery.
UTICA D A I L Y PRESS
WEDNESDAY, JULY 3, 1950
Ex-Utican Flees Korea,
Husband Dies of Polio
George Hopkinson, husband of the former Helen Gray of this city, died after a 3 day illness with polio, members of Mrs. Hopkinson's family learned by cable from Japan yesterday.
Mrs. Hopkinson and her two year-old son, George Gray Hopkinson, were evacuated to Japan and are safe with friends there, the cable stated. Mr. Hopkinson was buried in Seoul shortly before that city fell into the hands of the North Korean Army, the relatives were informed.
MRS. LAWRENCE DARESSA, 557 Root St. New Hartford, the former Isabel Gray is a sister of Mrs. Hopkinson and Mrs. Leon K. Gray, same address, is her mother. Mr Hopkinson was a cousin of Earl R. Andrews, 50 Scott.
After several days of worry about the Hopkinson family, which had lived for more than 3 years in Seoul, Mrs Gray and Mrs Daressa received a cablegram dated June 29 saying: "All well and safe." Yesterday's cable was signed by Mrs. Hopkinson and came from Hakonemiyanoshita, Japan. It said "George died of polio June 27th Seoul. Sick three days. Burial in Seoul before Communists arrived. Baby and I evacuated to Japan with friends " The cable was dated 8 p.m., July 4. The New Hartford women are awaiting a letter from Mrs. Hopkinson to clear up the contradiction between the two cables, but last night surmised Mrs. Hopkinson and her son may have been evacuated to Japan, leaving Mr. Hopkinson safe in Seoul, only to learn later of his illness, death and burial.
MR. HOPKINSON was a native of Cambridge. Mass. and lived for several summers in Wardsboro. Vt. He graduated from Phillips-Exeter Academy, Harvard and the Harvard School of Business. He was employed in the Bankers Trust Company. New York, before entering the Army in 1942. He was mustered out in Korea with the rank of major and became U.S. custodian, of Army property in South Korea. He later became associated with the Korean Foreign Exchange Bank Ltd in Seoul, where the couple lived for three years and where their son was born.
Mr. and Mrs. Hopkinson were married June 23, 1936, in the former Gray family home, 1441 Kemble. Mrs. Gray had been supervisor of music in Cold Springs, N.Y., for several years, after her graduation from Utica Free Academy and Wellesley College College. Her father was the late Leon Gray, who conducted a pharmacy at 537 Genesee. Besides his wife and son. Mr. Hopkinson leaves a sister, Mrs. Joseph Kennedy, Montclair. N.J., and 4 neices and nephews of this city.
George Gray Hopkinson
New Hartford
Mr. George Gray Hopkinson, 62, of New Hartford, passed away unexpectedly on Tuesday January 4, 2011, with the love of his life by his side. George was born in Seoul, Korea, on January 13, 1948, the son of George Dwight and Helen (Gray) Hopkinson. He and his mother were evacuated from Korea in 1950, at the start of the Korean War and his father, being too ill to travel, eventually died in Korea. George and his mother, Helen, moved to New Hartford, where he lived for the remainder of his life.
George attended high school at the South Kent School in South Kent, CT, and received a BA degree in urban planning from Northeastern University in Boston, MA, in 1970. Upon graduation, he worked for the US Department of Housing and Urban Development in Rochester, NY. Returning to Utica in 1972, George was the owner and proprietor of a contracting business retiring after 40 years. He was a gentleman with a passion for working with his hands.
Mr. Hopkinson is survived by his loving companion, Wendy Simpson-Fullem, of Utica; and her children, Jessica and Robert Ratcliffe, of Lawton, OK, Rachael Fullem, of Syracuse, NY, and Paul W. and Alicia Fullem, of Worchester, MA, and their children, Bergette, Liam and Wolfgang, all of whom George loved as his own. Also surviving are two dear cousins, Mary Dwight Kennedy of Asheville, NC, and Lawrence Gray Daressa, of San Francisco, CA. There are no calling hours. A private family memorial will be held and burial will take place in Forest Hill Cemetery in Utica. Arrangements have been entrusted to Heintz Funeral Service, Inc., Utica.
Published in The Observer-Dispatch on January 6, 2011.