Garland Richard "Bud" Hopper

Garland Richard "Bud" Hopper, age 95, of Toledo, a beloved father, grandfather, and great grandfather, passed away on July 28, 2025 at the Iowa River Hospice Home in Marshalltown. Funeral Services will be held Saturday, August 2, 2025 at 1:00 PM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home in Tama with Pastor Steve Brandt officiating. Interment will follow at Oak Hill Cemetery in Tama. Visitation will be held Friday, August 1, 2025 from 5-7 PM at Kruse-Phillips Funeral Home. Bud was born on September 14, 1929, on a farm five miles north of Toledo, Iowa. He was born the son of Marshall and Vera (Schrader) Hopper. Bud did his early schooling in a country school NE of Toledo and graduated from Toledo High School in 1947. After graduation, Bud continued working on the family dairy farm and helping with the family milk route. In October 1950, he enlisted in the U.S. Navy. He was stationed at San Diego, CA, Memphis, TN, and Camp Lejeune, NC, just to name a few. Later in 1953, he transferred to the Marines and became a medic. His other travels included Mt. Fuji, Okinawa, and Iwo Jima Japan, Athens Greece, Malta, Sicily, Sardinia, and Paris France. He completed his military service in August 1954, and married Betty Matthews of Greensboro, NC, on October 30, 1954. They made their home in Toledo, Iowa, where they started farming and having five children over the next eight years, Tim, Terry, Susan, Rick, and Sandy. Over the next twenty-five years, he became and accomplished dairyman, raising registered Guernsey Cattle. Bud was a 4-H leader for twenty-three years for the East Toledo Wide Awakes and helped start the annual 4-H calendar that displayed birthdays and anniversaries as a fundraiser, which still exists today. He was very proud to display his Roselorn Guernsey cattle at various shows throughout Iowa and helping teach other 4-H members everything about dairy. Bud was a conservation farmer before it was cool. In 1970, he earned Conservation Farmer of the Year award in Tama County, and placed 3rd statewide. He took pride in contour farming and rotating crops between oats, hay, corn, beans and pasture. In his lifetime, he planted and harvested crops with horses one or two rows at a time. And picking corn by hand, maybe 65-70 bushels a day between chores. And finally riding in a twelve row combine that was absolutely amazing to watch. He remembered, as a young boy, getting electricity to their farm where he grew up in 1939, and indoor running water somewhere around 1943. Bud enjoyed bowling for nearly twenty years, where he maintained a 183 average, and participated frequently in tournaments. He had many trophies, too numerous to count. Bud enjoyed bird watching and believe he had identified over 700 different species in all his travels whether on the farm, backyards, or parks he visited. He once drove to western Nebraska just to see the Sandhill Crane migrate south and drove back home the same day. Bud was also an avid coin collector and has inspired many of his family to follow this hobby as well. Bud retired in 1980 and moved to Marshalltown, where he joined the Jehovah Witness religion and became very involved in the congregation. He has made a lot of lifelong friends over the past forty-five years. He was appointed a ministerial servant and enjoyed teaching the Bible to others. He once said his greatest accomplishment was getting to know the Bible. On April 24, 1995, he married Evelyn VanSyoc in Mariann, FL. They made their home in West Des Moines, IA and Sun City, AZ for twenty-nine years. Until her passing on December 31, 2024. They enjoyed traveling with friends and each other to places like Alaska…twice, Hawaii four times, Mexico, Panama Canal, Aruba, and Costa Rica, and all the countless places in the U.S. Bud was extremely proud of his five children, ten grandchildren, and seventeen great grandchildren. He was genuinely interested and curious about them all and always looked forward to seeing them and giving them a big ole hug. Bud is survived by sons, Timothy (Mo) Hopper, Terry (Jeannie) Hopper, and Richard F. (Jodi) Hopper of Toledo; daughter, Sandra (Donovan) Kleine; stepson, Scott (Sheryl) VanSyoc; ten grandchildren, Brandon Hopper, Kiley Tritz, Erik Hopper, Krista Sullivan, Mathew Hopper, Julia Welker, Richard H. Hopper, Emily Hopper, Nyle Kleine, and Jamie VanSyoc; seventeen great grandchildren, Arlo and Aaron Hopper, Aubrie, Landen, Ryder, and Mila Tritz, Alina, Eliana, and Norah Hopper, Luke and Miles Sullivan, Kasen, Kinslee, and Kyla Hopper, Ryker Kleine, AJ VanSyoc, Elijah Welker, and baby Hopper due in October. Preceding him in death were his parents, Marshall and Vera Hopper; wives, Betty Hopper (1982) and Evelyn VanSyoc (2024); daughter, Susan Hopper; grandson, Thomas Hopper; brother, Paul Hopper; sisters, Dorothy Ohman, Phyllis McComas, and Arlene Gerlach; and stepson, Britt VanSyoc. A memorial fund will be established.