Estelle was born August 25, 1914, at Crosbyton, TX, to Grady W. and Maude Lee (Johnson) Wilson Sr. She was raised on a farm at West Way near Hereford, TX. She was the oldest of eight children.

In 1951, Estelle and her husband, Arvel Hopson, moved from Hereford, TX, to join the rest of the Wilson family in Faith and Sturgis, SD.

Estelle owned and operated restaurants in Hereford, TX, and in Faith and Sturgis, SD.

Estelle and her sister, Pauline, loved to travel. They traveled between Texas and South Dakota visiting relatives.

Estelle was always quick with a compliment and hospitable with her talent for cooking. Pies were her specialty. She also enjoyed fishing, grandkids, singing church hymns, and dancing the Charleston.

Estelle recently received a South Dakota State Library award for becoming a member of the 10 Squared Club. The Club was established by the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (a division of the Library of Congress) to honor lifelong readers who are 100 or more years of age. This award acknowledges her achievements and the rewards of a life of reading and intellectual curiosity.

Lillian Estelle Hopson, 101, Sturgis, died Monday, October 19, 2015, at Sturgis Regional Hospital.

Survivors include her sons, Rodney C. Hopson, Billings, MT, Timothy J. Hopson, Sturgis, and Grady Hopson, Prescott Valley, AZ; daughter, Vickie L.
Velasquez, Monte Vista, CO; brothers, Thomas E. Wilson, Hereford, TX, Donald L. Wilson, Bartlesville, OK, and Larry L. Wilson, Faith, SD; sister, Sue Keffeler, Sturgis; 14 grandchildren; 32 great-grandchildren; and special friends, Violet Anderson and Geri Ericson.

She was preceded in death by her parents; daughter, Ava Sue; son, Jerry Ray Landers; sisters, Gertrude Millard and Pauline Block; and brother, Grady Wilson, Jr.

Memorials have been established to the Mountain States Children's Home in Longmont, CO, or the New Mexico Christian Children's Home in Portales, NM.

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