James "Jim" Shand Hopkins

February 18th, 1945 - August 16th, 2024

My beloved Jim was born in Boston, Massachusetts to James Shand Hopkins, Sr. and Eleanor Rock Hopkins, joining his two sisters, Pat and Judy, to complete the family.

The family moved to New Hyde Park on Long Island, New York when he was a young child. During Jim's teenage years, the family moved once again. This time to Miami, Florida.

During this time and into his 20's, Jim was anything but shy or afraid of trying new things. To name a few, he was  somewhat a daredevil driver, played a little sports with varying degrees of success and wanted to follow in the "footsteps" of his idol, Fred Astaire (pun intended). To this end, he took classes in tap, ballet and jazz and, by his own admission, he "wasn't half bad"!

Jim worked for Pan Am Airways for several years, until its demise, as a member of the airliner preparation crew. During his tenure with Pan Am, Jim took advantage of a great employee perk, free air fare. That's when he went to Austria and skied in the Alps.

After Pan Am, Jim found employment in Miami at Mt. Sinai Hospital, where he worked for 25+ years as an operating room technician, until his retirement.

Over all this time, Jim had two partners, each considerably older than he. Both of these relationships ended with the passing of Jim's then-partner, one of them dying in Jim's arms.  All of this left Jim single once again.

During the pandemic, in 2020, a mutual friend introduced Jim to his next and last partner, Don Squire. Within only a couple of months, Jim moved into Don's condo in Pompano Beach. They were a very committed and loving couple to the very end.

They each had said to the other that he had  never loved anyone so deeply as in this relationship.

Jim is sorely missed by Don, of course, and by everyone who knew him!!

"I love you, Jim!"