Palestine High School Alumni Association

11 / 15 / 1955 – 07 / 13 / 1984

Funeral services for Steve Hopper, 28, of Palestine will be held at 2 p.m. Monday in the Hassell & Foster Funeral Home Chapel.  Dr. Frank Royal will  officiate.  Burial will be in Roselawn Park.

A native of Houston Hopper was a carpenter and painter.  He was a member of Southside Baptist Church and is a 1974 graduate of Palestine High School.  Stephen Wayne Hopper was born November 15, 1955 to Audrey Quenton and Charles Pearline Carroll Hopper.  He married Nadine Annette Coy on October 4, 1974 in Anderson County, Texas.

Survivors include his wife Nadine Coy Hopper; daughters, Erika Nicole Hopper of Duncanville and Misty Kohler of Palestine; son, Stephen Wayne Hopper, Jr. of Duncanville; parents, A.Q. and Charles Hopper of Palestine; grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. C.B. Carroll of Palestine; sisters, Cherry Massey of Groesback and Rochell Toole of Palestine and brother, Gary Hopper of Long Beach, California.

Palestine Herald Press Story:

Cause has not been established in a fire that destroyed a portion of the interior of a North Palestine home Friday and left one man dead, a fire department official said Saturday.  Justice of the Peace Ben Perry said an autopsy by the Dallas Medical Examiner’s Office has been ordered to determine the exact cause of death.

Fire Marshall Henry York said that Hopper was found in his bedroom adjoining the home’s fire-gutted living room.  The flames were contained to the living room and attic with the rest of the home receiving heavy smoke damage.

Mrs. Hopper and her small daughter, Misty Kohler, escaped through the window of the bedroom after being awakened by the car horn of a passerby  who was trying to alert the neighborhood, York said.  Another couple sharing the home, Mr. and Mrs. Alex LaRue, managed to escape from a separate bedroom of the house.  The fire originated in the living room of the home Hopper was believed to have been in the living room when the fire started.  Mrs. Hopper said she did not see her husband after she discovered the house was on fire.

Fireman Mike Pell was taken to the Anderson County Memorial Hospital emergency room to be treated for smoke inhalation received while trying to resuscitate Hopper in the smoke-filled bedroom.  The attempt to revive Hopper at the scene fail.  Pell was later released from the emergency room.

Source:  Palestine Herald Press