Friends, family and colleagues of Harold Hopkinson, a long-time public servant in the village of Manlius, came together this past Sunday to celebrate his retirement after 56 years of service on the village board of trustees. Hopkinson was given multiple citations for his service, and had both a village board room and a calendar day named in his honor.

“Harold is a great man who has contributed so much to this community,” Manlius Mayor Paul Whorrall said at the retirement reception on Sunday, Feb. 22.

Hopkinson joined the village planning board in 1953, shortly after he and his wife Betty moved to Manlius from Maine. He was involved in the Manlius Community Council at the time, and asked to join the planning board because he wanted to be involved in solving the sewer system problem the village was then enduring.

In 1957, he ran and was elected to serve as a village trustee, where he served every year until 2004 when he was defeated for reelection. In 2007, Hopkinson ran again for trustee and won the election, and has served on the board until his retirement this year.

In his 56 years as village trustee, Hopkinson served as deputy mayor for 32 of those years, and was village board liaison to all of the possible boards and organizations, including the fire department, planning board, library, police department, Community Council, Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, Manlius Historical Association, Manlius Restoration and Development and the Manlius Senior Centre.

Hopkinson was responsible for many achievements during his time on the board, including the planning of Mill Run Park, establishment of the fish hatchery and establishing a contractual relationship between the village of Manlius, the village library, the Manlius Historical Society and the Manlius Senior Centre.

His biggest accomplishment, Hopkinson said, was one of his first and that was to obtain sanitary sewers for the village.

“We were one of the first villages in the area to provide a sanitary sewer system for the whole village,” Hopkinson said. “It was a great feeling to complete that project.”

Hopkinson has served under 10 mayors in the village of Manlius and touched the lives of many other colleagues, including County Legislator Kevin Holmquist, who spoke at the Feb. 22 retirement party.

“Harold is one of the most genuine people I have ever met,” Holmquist said. “When I first was elected to the Manlius Village Board, I was 24. Harold invited me one Saturday morning to his home to go over the municipal budget line by line so I could get a better understanding of it. About eight hours later, I knew so much more about how a village budget works.”

Holmquist presented a citation to Hopkinson from the Onondaga County Legislature recognizing his many years of service to the village of Manlius. Citations were also presented by Whorrall from the village of Manlius, Manlius Town Supervisor Ed Theobald from the town of Manlius, Minoa Mayor Richard Donovan from both the village of Minoa and the New York Conference of Mayors.

In addition to the citations, Whorrall made a declaration that village election day, March 18, 2015, would be dedicated as “Harold Hopkinson Day,” and the meeting room in the village offices was dedicated as the “Harold H. Hopkinson Board Room.”

Hopkinson also received a bicentennial leather bucket from the Village of Manlius Fire Department.

Hopkinson said he will continue to be active in the Manlius Historical Society and the United Methodist Church of Manlius, despite his retirement from the village board.

“The most important thing I learned from my time in local government is to respect all people and their opinions,” Hopkinson said. “There are going to be disagreements in all sorts of matters, but you need to learn how to work with people to make the place you live a great place to be.”

Being involved in local municipalities is something Hopkinson said is important, and he encourages anyone who is interested to attend board meetings and become engaged.

In attendance at the retirement reception from Hopkinson’s family were his wife Betty, his children Heidi Escober and Will Hopkinson, his son-in-law Bob Escobar and his granddaughter Emily Chwalek and her husband Mark Chwalek.

“I’m very proud of him, but I am glad he will get to spend some more time with his family,” said Betty.

Hayleigh Gowans is a reporter for the Eagle Bulletin. She can be reached at [email protected].