The Rev. Dr. Raymond Charles “Ray” Hopkins

The Rev. Dr. Raymond Charles “Ray” Hopkins, a Universalist minister who worked tirelessly for Unitarian and Universalist consolidation and served the merged Unitarian Universalist movement in several capacities thereafter, died peacefully in his sleep, aged 93, at his home in Saco Maine, on April 21, 2013.

Deeply devoted to his liberal religious tradition and beyond, Ray Hopkins served on every merger-related committee from 1946 until AUA-UCA consolidation was finally formalized in 1961, when he was appointed executive vice president of the newly created Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA), serving in that position until 1974. During these years he was heavily engaged in the anti-war, feminism, and civil right movements, and served briefly on the Executive Committee of the International Association for Religious Freedom in 1969. His work on consolidation and later tenure at the UUA offered him the opportunity to meet some of his heroes, including Albert Schweitzer, John F. Kennedy, and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Raymond Charles Hopkins was born in Danbury, CT on July 29, 1919 to Clarence and Mary Halstead Hopkins, and was raised in the Universalist church there. He began teaching Sunday school at age 15 and soon rose to local, statewide, and then national youth leadership positions. Drafted into the army as a conscientious objector in 1942 and honorably discharged with disability in 1944, Ray immediately began ministerial study at Tufts University. There he became a charter member of the Humiliati, a somewhat “maverick” but eventually influential group of Tufts students and recent alumni, who gathered in 1945 for study, fellowship, and Universalist renewal. Sometime after the group disbanded in 1954, Mr. Hopkins joined the Fraters of the Wayside Inn, an older study group of Universalist clergy on which the Humiliati had modeled their own organization.

Mr. Hopkins was graduated from Tufts with a B.A. in 1947 and S.T.B. in 1949. While still a student, he served ministries at Universalist churches in Canton (1944-45), Medford (1945-46), and Brockton, beginning the latter in 1946 and continuing on after graduation, where he was ordained in 1949 and served until 1961. In 1964, he was awarded an honorary Doctorate by Starr King School for the Ministry.

Ray Hopkins began a new chapter in 1974, when he became executive director of the Ferry Beach Park Association in Saco, Maine, providing that center for retreat and renewal with skillful leadership for ten years. (The image at right was taken there in 2012.) The Rev. Mr. Hopkins also served as minister of the Unitarian Universalist Church of Saco & Biddeford from 1975 to 1984. He was honored with the title of Minister Emeritus upon his retirement in 1984.

A memorial service was planned to be held in the summer of 2013 at Ferry Beach. In lieu of flowers, donations are encouraged to the Ferry Beach Park Association, 5 Morris Ave, Saco, Maine 04072.

Notes of condolence may be sent to Linda Hopkins at 8 Morris Ave., Saco, Maine 04072.