Bom-Wrapper

Obituary for Lynn Ray Hoopes

Lynn Ray  Hoopes
Litchfield - Lynn Ray Hoopes, beloved friend, mother, grandmother and community member passed May 12, 2018. Born on a kitchen table in Panama on February 7, 1936 to Ruth and Herman Lamar Ray, an officer in the Navy, Lynn would spend the first quarter of her life on the move. For her education, she moved schools thirteen times in sixteen years living in places as disparate as the Philippines and Newport, Rhode Island. After two years at two different colleges in California, she completed her studies at George Washington University.

It was there in D.C., perhaps because she had slowed down long enough, that she met Charles Dallett Hoopes, a law school student, and a man she instantly knew she “could live with.” They married in 1959 at the Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where Lynn’s father, then a captain, was the base commander.

The two quickly started a family. After a short stint back in Washington D.C., the family landed in the suburbs of Philadelphia which after three years Lynn deemed not to be a great fit. In 1966, the family moved to Litchfield, CT where she found a community and home that she would love and live in for the rest of her life.

Her life in Litchfield was industrious. For the first few years she worked hard to bring a drafty old house into livable condition. She then focused her efforts on contributing to the community, volunteering tirelessly for The Oliver Wolcott Library, Child and Family Services, the League of Women Voters, and Litchfield Public Schools. Lynn was a founding member of the Litchfield Performing Arts where along with Murray Belsky, she established the Simone Belsky Piano competition, the first of its kind to recognize artists over the age of 40. Early concerts were held in her living room. Lynn often threw the doors of her home open for meetings, gatherings of the Monday Poets, a group she co-founded, and political forums. She loved to bring people together in the name of food, art and discourse.

A member of the Litchfield Garden Club for over 40 years, Lynn was an instinctive gardener and loved to visit gardens and find new plants. She leaves behind her garden, her sister, Starr Myklebust, three children, Catherine, Christopher and Melanie, their spouses Barry, Megwin and Ed and six grandchildren, Emily, Liza, Tom, Bill, Asher and Bee. She was predeceased by her husband Charles Dallett Hoopes.

Memorial donations can be sent to: Litchfield Land Trust, P.O. Box 712, Litchfield, CT 06759.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Lynn Ray Hoopes, please visit our Heartfelt Sympathies Store.

Order Flowers
Share by: