He had also sang in the choir and served as deacon, choir director, Sunday school teacher and chairman of several committees at Emmett Avenue Baptist Church, New Hope Baptist Church andCamp Branch Baptist Church. He sang, traveled and recorded with the Notables Quartet for 23 years. He loved gospel music and enjoyed playing the harmonica. He was an avid golfer and bowler and received several state trophies in horseshoes. He loved spending time with his family and friends and sharing his wonderful sense of humor. He worked for Meadow Gold and Duke Manufacturing, retiring in 1996. He served with the American Red Cross hospital volunteers and was a 1952 graduate of Smith-Cotton High School.
Also surviving are a daughter, Valarie Swanson, and her husband, Keith, of Sedalia; a son, Phillip Hopper, and his wife, Kathy, of Lincoln; a daughter-in-law, Vicki Webb, and her husband, Robert, of Sedalia; a brother, Elmer Hopper, of Sioux Center, Iowa; a sister, Gertrude Myrmoe, of Sioux Falls, S.D.; seven grandchildren; and three great grandchildren.
He was predeceased by two sons, Clifford Wade Hopper and Timothy Ray Hopper; a brother, Ernest L. Hopper, Jr.; three sisters, Ruby Hopper, Mary Friedebach and Katherine Haugen.
Funeral services will be at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday at Heckart/Gillespie Colonial
Chapel, with the Rev. Dr. Donald J. Allcorn officiating.
Pallbearers will be Gary Johnson, Leo Schroder, Keith Venable, Keith Swanson, Norman Klein, Jason Zimmerschied and Robert Webb. Honorary pallbearers will be Meghan Zimmerschied, Doug Swanson, Ashley Webb,
Lance Hopper, Ryan Hopper, Rachel Hopper, Jessica Hopper, KayLynn Zimmerschied, Wyatt Zimmerschied and Blake Zimmerschied.
Burial will be in Crown Hill Cemetery.
The family will receive friends from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Tuesday at the Heckart/Gillespie Funeral Home.
The family suggests memorial contributions to Calvary Baptist Church.
Raymond Louis Hopper, 71, of Sedalia, died Saturday, Feb. 4, 2006, at Bothwell Regional Health Center.
He was born June 1, 1934, in Sedalia, a son of Ernest Lee Sr. and Flossie McBain Hopper. On Feb. 16, 1952, in Sedalia, he was married to Mary Frances Hayes, who survives of the home.
Mr. Hopper was currently a member of Calvary Baptist Church.
