Woodard Brownfield (Woody) Hopkins Jr. was born on 25 November 1934 in Boonville, Missouri and died on 16 September 2000 in Eisenach, Germany, while visiting Wartburg Castle following a tour he had led to the 2000 Oberammergau Passion Play in Austria. 

The son of Erna and Woodard B. Hopkins Sr., brother of William, Sara, John and Robert, husband of Maxie, father to Woodard B. (Buddy) Hopkins III, Rodney and Christi, uncle on the Hopkins side to Brian, Christina, Ilmari, AnnaLaara, Marilla and Mark, and friend, supporter, mentor and leader to countless others, he is sorely missed but warmly remembered by many.

After graduation from Westminster College (Missouri) in 1956, Woodard embarked on a career in the United States Army, serving abroad in Korea, Okinawa and Vietnam as well as multiple assignments at the Pentagon and other U.S. postings, and also earning an MBA degree from Syracuse University. He retired with the rank of Lieuteantt Colonel, with his last assignment in the Pentagon as Comptroller to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

Following his Army retirement, he first assumed the post of Comptroller and Government Relations Manager for Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. In the early 1980s he was retained as analyst for the new U.S. Department of Energy, and subsequently rose to the position of Contract Manager for Business and Information Management Services provided by Computer Data Systems, Inc. (CDSI) to the U.S. Department of Energy. His responsibility ranged from strategic financial information management, enterprise technology services, and communications security  (COMSEC), to overall quality assurance.

He retired from CDSI in 1998 to pursue a lifelong interest in the history and culture of Europe and the Middle East, and in his last years had travelled and led educational tours to Egypt, Israel, Greece, Turkey, England, Scotland, Wales,
Austria, Germany, Sweden and Finland, including three visits to Tampere and Lahti, Finland, between May 1999 and January 2000 for family events. Ahead, new trips had already been planned for Italy, Alaska and China.

Woodard's funeral was held on 05 October 2000 at the Old Post Chapel in Fort Myer, Virginia, where he and Maxie had been married in 1964 and his daughter Christi married in 1994. He was buried with full military honors in Arlington
     National Cemetery, under one of the oak trees he loved, looking out across the Potomac toward the Washington Monument — in death as in life, together with people and history and beauty.