NEWARK: John Marshall Hooper, who had just celebrated his 61st birthday on January 26, was entered into rest on February 2, 2024, with family and friends by his side. He was the son of Francis E. Hooper of Macedon, New York and Ann L. Simmons (deceased 6/4/23) of Newark, New York. In his lifetime, John influenced many lives, but none more than those of his family, special friends, various teachers and caregivers. From the beginning, his family was extremely involved in caring for his special needs by exploring and following many treatment alternatives. These special needs were later diagnosed as autism, which occurred in 1 in 10,000 individuals at the time.
Many special friends were also very involved in John’s early life. One of these friends, KK Hermenet (now Datthyn), played an especially important part. After several summers of taking swimming lessons with KK, John swam the one mile across Sodus Bay to earn a Boy Scout swimming badge. Celebrations for his swim continued at Connelly’s Cove Restaurant afterwards. This swim helped him achieve tenderfoot status before he aged out of scouts.
While his autism never stopped affecting his life, John was involved in many other activities and accomplishments of which he could be proud. He traveled to England with his mom, Marilyn Wilson and Cheryl Chapman. He also traveled all over the United States with his friend, Jay Thomson, and his teacher, Marilyn Wilson. In the late 1970’s, with a group of teachers and friends, he rode his 3-speed bicycle from Newark, New York to Boston, Massachusetts to help raise money for a school. The group visited places of interest along the way and stayed in churches overnight. This trip resulted in having his picture on the front page of the Boston Globe and many local newspapers along the route. At a later date, John flew alone to visit his friend, Jay Thomson, in California for a week and returned to Massachusetts to join his mother’s class trip to Boston.
Additionally, John was involved in fundraising for his mom’s second grade class field trip to Connecticut to meet Robert Ballard, the scientist who found the Titanic. John met another famous person, quarterback Doug Flutie, while visiting the Buffalo Bills training camp at St. John Fisher College. He has proudly displayed the picture which was taken with Flutie at that time.
Even with all of these accomplishments and special activities, John was proudest of the years he delivered newspapers for the Finger Lakes Times. He took great pride in delivering the papers carefully and considered his customers as part of his family. He received an award for being the adult carrier of the year in 2017 and retired shortly after, only when newspapers were beginning to be delivered by mail.
John loved movies, horseback riding, flying, ice skating, cross- country skiing, music, and hiking. His video collection was the envy of many of his friends and was one that he guarded carefully. He shared willingly, but always made it clear when it was time for any borrowed videos to be returned. John loved all kinds of music, and, although his tastes varied through the years, he was always especially fond of music from the 60’s and Christmas music.
Next to music, John loved hiking. He loved to hike at Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge, along the canal trail, and at many new and exciting places with his hiking buddy, Hank Cupriks. His favorite place to hike was Beaver Lake Nature Center in Baldwinsville. He made many friends in the gift shop there as he purchased large numbers of rubber snakes that brought him comfort when he was stressed. His hikes on various trails at Beaver Lake were invariably followed by a delicious prime rib dinner at Scotch & Sirloin in DeWitt.
The last years of his life were plagued with medical problems, but John never gave up. He had a one-mile in-house walking route, exercise machines, and also loved dictating letters to family and friends; baking bread with his friend, Susan; helping his best buddy, Sean Hanagan, make homemade soup; and taking rides with Sean to Sodus Point when he felt well enough to do so. As his health affected his stamina, his hikes became shorter, but were cherished when he felt well enough to walk on the Sodus Point light house pier or walk along Seneca Lake with Sean or Susan Cupriks. When he dictated letters to family and friends, he loved getting letters, cards, and postcards back from them. He read them over and over again and shared them with his caregivers.
In addition to his mother, Ann, who was his dedicated caregiver for his entire life until she passed away, John was predeceased by his maternal uncle, William Simmons; paternal uncle, Robert Zecher; brother-in-law, William Hendricks; his maternal grandparents, Frank & Gwendolyn Simmons, his paternal grandparents, Frank & Kate Hooper, special friends, Raymond & Ellen Muth, Ellen Hopkins (Mike), friend and teacher, Dolores Johnson; and very special friend, Reta Burns.
John is survived by family and many special friends including: his father, Frank Hooper (Nancy) of Macedon; brother and pen pal Michael Hooper (Ranita) of Martinsville, IN; sister Nancy Hendricks of Sodus; nephew Matthew Hooper (Lena) and their children Gabriella and Joey of Franklin, KY; nephew Harrison Hendricks (Hannah) and their daughter, Willow of Fairfield, CT; niece Maddison Hendricks, currently on a Fellowship in Spain; paternal aunt, Jean Zecher of Sodus; paternal uncle, Terry Hooper (Avis) of Penfield; maternal aunt, Melanie Sue Simmons of Crescent City, FL; many paternal cousins including Mary Zecher Patton, special cousin and pen pal of Sodus; several maternal cousins including pen pals, Donna Peck of CO; Dianne Cooke (Geoff) of TN; special friend and soul-brother, Joshua Cupriks (Kristin Mateo) of Westfield, NJ who introduced John to slumber parties; Special friends Jay Thomson (Karen) of Sherrills Ford, NC, Dennis Bastian (Debbie) of Lyons, Paul DiSanto (Kris) of Pultneyville, Jennifer Tones (Todd), of Newark, June Sapp (Robert) of Sodus, Tracy Narburgh (Shannon) of Albion, Orville and Mary Van Duser of Phelps, Connie Winsor of Indian Wells, CA, Diane and Bob Miller of Newark; special friend and favorite waitress, Julie Fitzgerald of Sodus Point; special friends & former caregivers, Jean Pierce, Cheryl Chapman of Newark, Jana Edmonds (Dennis) of Newark, Twanda Turman (Jason) of Moravia; Mary Lasher (Terry) of FL; special friends and pen pals, Sharon (Jack) Van Duser of North Port, FL, Walter and Carol Sue Muth of Bar Harbor, Maine, TR Muth, Arza-Gilad, Nadav and Aya Gilad-Muth of Brooklyn, Norris, Allyson & Grace Muth of Pine Mills Grove, PA, John Burns of Star Lake; fellow entrepreneur of the 1970’s, Sue Van Duser, now Sue Pitler (Tim) of Canandaigua; dedicated nurses for many years, Nancy McCullough Stabins and Sandra Miceli of Webster; Dr. Chester Nakamura of Clifton Springs; Care Coordinator, Cassandra Pierson of Person Centered Services; staff at Heritage Christian and Samantha at Center for Disability Rights, and last, but definitely not least, Marilyn Wilson, lifetime teacher and caregiver of Newark; caregiver and best friend, Sean Hanagan, of Sodus; longtime cherished caregiver, Susan Cupriks of Newark; cherished caregivers Cathy Hanagan (Jeff) of Sodus, Theresa Anselmo of Ontario; and special caregiver and nurse, Diane Blair (John) of Newark.
John’s memorial service and celebration of life afterwards will be held at 11 am on June 8, 2024, at the Park Presbyterian Church at 110 Maple Court in Newark, New York, where John served as a custodian, along with Susan Cupriks and Marilyn Wilson for a short time in the late 1970’s. His caregivers, family, and friends have compiled “Favorite John Stories,” which will be read at his service. There will be no prior calling hours. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to:
Friends of Beaver Lake, 8477 East Mud Lake Road, Baldwinsville, New York 13027 with the purpose of dedicating a bench on one of the hiking trails and/or a bird feeder to help attract the many species of birds in the area. When John visited Beaver Lake, he loved sitting in a rocking chair in front of the large picture window overlooking many bird feeders. He often sat there for as long as an hour watching the large variety of birds that were feeding and flying around. Just like the birds:
“Some people come into our lives, leave footprints on our hearts, and we are never the same.” Franz Peter Schubert
John left his footprints on an amazing number of hearts!
