Experience Works program leads to fulfilling employment for Bloomfield senior

Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Kristin DeJournett-Simon photo Virginia Hopkins spends several days a week working at the Bloomfield Public Library.

Virginia Goff Hopkins, age 80, was raised just north of Aquila in Gravel Hill, which was a very rural community situated atop a hill with a building that served as a school and a church. Her mother lost the battle with cancer at age 37, leaving Hopkins, age five, as well as a 17-month-old baby, a three year old, a seven year old, and a 13 year old in the sole care of their father. Hopkins' father worked building bridges for the county and also on the family's 42 acre farm, so the job of mothering fell to the 13 year old. Hopkins had to grow up quick and help care for the family.

"I washed laundry on a washboard, milked the cow, drew water, and chopped and carried wood. I learned to make biscuits at age 10," Hopkins recalls.

Approximately 25 students attended Gravel Hill School when Hopkins was a child and all the grades were taught in the same room. Upon reaching high school, students transferred to the Bell City school system.

submitted photo This photo of Virginia Hopkins' class at Gravel Hill was taken in 1943. The children insisted that "Mr. Aslin" be in the photo. "we were very patriotic!" remembers Hopkins.

"I'd never been on a school bus before. There were more kids in my classroom at Bell City than there had been in the entire school at Gravel Hill," Hopkins says. "My favorite thing in school was singing. I sang in a trio with Frona McGill and Wanda Campbell. The Rotary Club took us all over the country to sing."

After graduating from Bell City in 1951, Hopkins moved to Cape Girardeau to work. For three years she got by through working low-paying jobs waitressing at restaurants and renting a sleeping room at 225 North Sprigg for five dollars a week. In 1955, Hopkins returned home to Gravel Hill and secured a job at Elder Manufacturing.

"My first job was a standing job using scissors, trimming and turning waistbands. I'm left handed and all the scissors are right-handed. I ruined my thumb on those scissors, but it was a higher paying job than running a sewing machine," explains Hopkins. "In 1955, my job earned 75 cents an hour. The sewing machine jobs earned 63 cents an hour. In March of 1956, my wage went up to one dollar an hour."

Hopkins ended up working at Elder Manufacturing for 40 years and there she met the man who became her husband. The two had three children together. Her husband passed away in 2004.

"Our jobs at Elder Manufacturing helped raise our family. We never had more than we needed to survive. In the factory your pay was according to your production so you made every second count. It feels strange now to have a moment to sit down or take a break at work," Hopkins says.

These days, Hopkins can be found working several days a week at the Bloomfield Public Library, where she has been employed for nine years. She secured the job through the Experience Works program. Initially, Hopkins was worried that she wouldn't be of much help in a library setting, but thanks to her position, the library can now stay open six days a week. Hopkins helps out by checking and cataloging books, cleaning, assisting patrons, and helping with computer work, and she loves every second of it.

"Linda Myers is the best boss I ever had," Hopkins says with a smile. "I never want to stop working here."

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