Cloudy, 44° F
(Sept. 11, 1941 - May 10, 2012)
Nancy Hopkin Smith died May 10, 2012. She was 70.
Nancy was the first born child of Fredrick Wilson Hopkin and Dorcas Lea Waltman, born on Sept. 11, 1941, in Powell.
Nancy lived most of her growing up years on the family dairy farm in Penrose, attending school in Powell. The school said that she went around the world twice on that school bus. Nancy graduated from Powell High School in 1959. After a year at Northwest Community College, Nancy graduated from the Billings Business College. From Billings Nancy moved to Cheyenne. After a short stay there, she moved with a friend to Huntington W.Va., where she met Bill Smith. Nancy and Bill were blessed with three beautiful daughters, Shauna, Tracey and Nikki.
Nancy spent many years raising horses and hound dogs and driving the narrow roads of the hollers of West Virginia and then Ohio. Nancy made the most of living in the south, but her heart was still always home in the Big Horn Basin. Nancy returned to Wyoming in 1989, living first in Lovell, then Byron and finally in her beloved Powell. She returned to Northwest College, studying art, history and political science subjects.
Nancy worked many years at Food Basket IGA and then at McDonald’s until she became ill with cancer in January 2009 when she was finally forced to quit working all together. Beating the odds, Nancy won the battle against cancer, retiring to the Powell Valley Care Center, where she would spend the next three years writing, reading and painting. Recognizing Nancy’s unique artistic abilities, the care center staff invited her to paint the dining area windows and write an article for the monthly newsletter.
After numerous stays in the Billings Clinic, Nancy chose to come home on May 9 to the Big Horn Basin for her final hours.
In her usual impatient fashion, not being able to wait for the loved ones that were en route to say goodbye, she died peacefully with her sisters Janet and Debbi at her side at the North Big Horn Hospital in Lovell.
Nancy was preceded in death by her parents.
She is survived by her daughters, Shauna (Don) Rutt of Scottown, Ohio; Tracey (Curt) Runyan, of Springfield, Ohio; and Nikki Gannon of Coal Grove, Ohio; seven grandchildren and one great-grandson; sisters Janet (John) Kobielusz, Kathi (Dennis) Pittman, both of Gillette; Debbi (Dave) Keele of Lovell and brother Carl Hopkin of Aurora, Colo.; numerous nieces and nephews; uncle Burch and aunt Ruby Hopkin and aunt Alyce Hopkin, all of Powell; as well as numerous cousins.
A memorial service was held May 12 at Haskell’s Funeral Home in Lovell with interment in the Penrose Cemetery on May 14.
