Born: Westminster, Colo., in 1962

Family: Marrried to wife, SeSuk (Say-Sook), for 30 years. They have four sons, Tim and daughter-in-law Brenda, Tom and daughter-in-law Kelsey, Dan Jr. and David.

Occupation: Hopkins retired from the U.S. Army in 2004 after serving 23 years as a military police officer. Hopkins has worked the past 10 years for Northrop Grumman as a Training Developer. He is active in the VFW and is serving his second term on the Tonganoxie USD 464 Board of Education.

Dream Job as a child: Soldier.

Digging deeper: Hopkins followed through with his childhood dream.

“I always wanted to be a soldier and it was no surprise to my family when I joined the Army out of high school,” Hopkins said. “I traveled the world, experienced adventures some only dream of and met wonderful people from all walks of life.”

Hopkins did three tours in Korea, one near the DMZ, three tours in Germany and a deployment to Bosnia in 1995-96. Of Hopkins’ 23 years of service, 14 were spent overseas.

He was stationed at Fort Riley from 1987-89 and “fell in love with Kansas.”

He selected his final assignment at Fort Leavenworth, which allowed him to retire and make Tonganoxie his home in 2001.

The profession runs in the family. Three of his sons serve in the Army. Tim, a 2004 THS graduate, is an infantry captain at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, with his wife Brenda, who is also a captain. Tom, a 2006 THS grad, is a military police first lieutenant at Fort Bragg near Fayetteville, N.C., with his wife, Kelsey, who is a first lieutenant in the Nurse Corps. Dan Jr. is in ROTC at Missouri Western State University in St. Joseph, Mo., and will commission as a second lieutenant of infantry upon graduating in May. The youngest, Dave, is undecided and enjoys going to THS.

Hopkins likes to read about and research military history. “We used to travel around Europe and did a lot of sightseeing of the many battlefields, museums, castles and villages,” he said.

“Now I garden, read, do a little fishing and travel to historic sites of the Old West.”