Matushka Anna Hopko, 78, wife of Protopresbytor Thomas Hopko and daughter of Protopresbytor Alexander Schmemann, reposed in the Lord on Thursday, August 4 after suffering a massive stroke the day before while vacationing at their summer cottage in Lac LaBelle, Canada.
Matushka Anya was one of the first persons I met when I arrived at St. Vladimir's Seminary, as she was the receptionist and had a small office just inside the main entrance.
She lived up to the title "Matushka" (which in Russian means "little mother") because she had that motherly instinct to watch over us students like a mother hen over her chicks.
I used to own a windbreaker that folded up into it's own pocket. Because it was fall, I pulled it out and put it on. As I was walking passed Matushka's office, she yelled out: "John Memorich, you get back here!"
When I went into her office she looked at my deep-set, wrinkled windbreaker and said, "You're not going to go out looking like that, are you!" She then made me take off my windbreaker and she disappeared with it for a few minutes. Upon her return, she presented me with a freshly ironed windbreaker, free from wrinkles and much more "becoming" for a seminarian to wear!
Of all the stories I could tell to exult or define Matushka Hopko, this one pretty much sums her up. She was a tremendous woman, wonderful person, excellent priest's wife, and an example of someone truly living the Christian Faith!
May the Kingdom of Heaven be hers! May her Memory be Eternal!
Fr. John
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