{"id":551601,"date":"2026-07-30T17:13:29","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:13:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551601\/"},"modified":"2026-07-30T17:13:29","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T17:13:29","slug":"tears-flow-as-hopkins-farewelled-in-oamaru","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/551601\/","title":{"rendered":"Tears flow as Hopkins farewelled in Oamaru"},"content":{"rendered":"

Remembered as a friend and an advocate for the people, Waitaki district councillor Jim Hopkins was farewelled on\u00a0Thursday\u00a0morning outside the council offices in Oamaru.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also a well-known television personality and broadcaster, Cr Hopkins died on Monday morning.<\/p>\n

The hearse paused outside the offices on its journey to Christchurch,\u00a0as about 100 people gathered to pay their respects\u00a0to\u00a0the long-serving\u00a0councillor.<\/p>\n

Among them were\u00a0Waitaki District Mayor Mel Tavendale, fellow councillors, council staff, members of\u00a0the public\u00a0and former Waitaki mayors Alex Familton and Alan McLay.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mrs Tavendale, who was visibly emotional in her farewell speech to her \u201ccolleague and friend\u201d,\u00a0said Cr Hopkins\u00a0would \u201cleave a gap that cannot be filled, but also a legacy that will never be forgotten\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cAround the council table, he was unmistakably Jim,\u00a0thoughtful, challenging, witty, deeply committed, and always guided by a fierce love for Waitaki and its people.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe had the rare gift of lighting up the room, and an incredible ability to throw his voice to all corners.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u00a0brought humour, intellect, humanity, and heart into every room he entered.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut more than that, Jim cared.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe cared about fairness, about local government, about the underdog, about this district, and about the people who call it home.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe loved your voice, your chuckle, your courage, your brilliance, your mischief, and the enormous heart you brought to us all.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs you leave Oamaru today, we send you with our thanks, our respect, and our absolute love,\u201d Mrs Tavendale said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Waitaki mayor Mel Tavendale lead a tribute to Mr Hopkins as he left Oamaru and the Waitaki District for the final time. Photo: Gerard O’Brien <\/p>\n

Mr McLay said: \u201cJim will leave a gap that will be hard to replace in terms of what he did for councillors\u2019 accountability.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe didn\u2019t always like it but he did have a real care for things, and he was a friend, he was genuine Jim,\u201d Mr McLay said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Waitaki mayor Mel Tavendale lead a tribute to Jim Hopkins as he left Oamaru and the Waitaki District for the final time. Photo: Gerard O’BrienPhoto: Gerard O’Brien <\/p>\n

There were very few dry eyes as people\u00a0lined up to lay rosemary on the coffin to farewell Mr Hopkins, before his final journey out of the Waitaki district and on to Christchurch.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"\"\"Waitaki’s first Pasifika councillor Hana Halalele arranges an ula fala ( necklace ) on Jim Hopkins’ casket yesterday as a mark of respect from the Oamaru Pacific community; acknowledging his high status and leadership. The ula fala rests on a Fijian tapa called Masi gifted by Alesi Draunimasi (right) on behalf of the Oamaru Pacific and Fijian communities.The pattern of the tapa symbolises strength, honour, leadership, legacy , protection and continued inspiration. Tapa is gifted to acknowledge important life events and status. Photo: Gerard O’Brien <\/p>\n

Many Oamaru residents gathered to say goodbye including a nearby neighbour,\u00a0Katie Albutt.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe loved Jim and we always loved seeing him,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Les Quartermaine said it was \u201cvery emotional\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a big loss in this town.\u00a0I\u2019ve known him a long time and he was a good friend,\u201d Mr Quartermaine said.<\/p>\n

Allan Prakash said Cr Hopkins was a \u201cgreat friend\u201d who would often speak at Lions Club events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fantastic. He had the gift of the gab, and he could speak about anything. He will really be missed,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cr Hopkins\u2019 son\u00a0David said his father\u2019s death \u201ccame suddenly\u201d but he was grateful to have spent the last weekend together.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018I\u2019m getting married in November and at no point in time did I think he wasn\u2019t going to be there.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe watched an appallingly bad Bruce Willis movie on Friday and we watched the rugby on Saturday and did a pub quiz on Sunday, so all things considered it was quite a fun-filled weekend,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

David joked that he would have driven his council colleagues \u201cbarmy at times\u201d, and remembered his father as \u201clarger than life\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThere will be lots of people who remember the time he squeezed an entire cricket team into his Fiat 500 Bambina and drove them to a game.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was a fantastic dad and he loved the life he created in Waitaki and to spend the best part there of the last 20 years.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHe loved his speech, he absolutely loved being a councillor, he was a dyed-in-the-wool do-gooder I suppose, and he carried on a family tradition of trying to make things better,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cr Hopkins\u2019 children, Cass, Tom and David, and family, will\u00a0attend his funeral in Addington, Christchurch at St Mary\u2019s Church next Monday at 11am.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will be a small gathering and we will have a private family burial at 2pm,\u201d David said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Cr Hopkins will be interred with his mother and father in Bromley Cemetery in Christchurch.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Remembered as a friend and an advocate for the people, Waitaki district councillor Jim Hopkins was farewelled on\u00a0Thursday\u00a0morning…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":551602,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-551601","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551601","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=551601"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/551601\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/551602"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=551601"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=551601"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=551601"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}