Beverly England Hopkins

Interview Date: 16 March 2023

Beverly Hopkins and her husband Jimmy’s Brimfield story begins as they were looking for a small town to raise their family. This interview highlights the reasons that the Hopkins family chose Brimfield as their home and includes homes they lived in, businesses they owned, and community activities they participated in. Mrs. Hopkins retired from teaching at Brimfield Grade School and she shares the changes in the school building while she worked there. Lorayne Stevenson, Mrs. Hopkins’s aunt, also retired from teaching at Brimfield Grade School. This interview also shares Ms. Stevenson’s WW2 story and the Brimfield homes she resided in. 

Introduction
02:55 Country schools
03:58 World War 2
05:45 Abingdon High School
06:40 College
07:32 Meets and marries Jimmie Hopkins
07:50 Jimmie drafted the Korean War.
09:00 Moved to Brimfield 1961
11:45 Community Involvement
13:32 Ms. Lorayne Stevenson
14:36 Lorayne’s brother was killed in training in WW2.
18:00 Lorayne Stevenson’s Brimfield residences
21:45 Hopkins’s Brimfield residences
28:26 Teaching at Brimfield Grade School
37:01 Old Brick Grade School Building
38:00 Brimfield Grade School building history
41:23 Businesses
46:40 Conclusion

Southern IL University
WWII
Ms. Lorayne Stevenson
Army Air Corp
Douglas Aircraft
Clinton Street
Madison Street
Galena Avenue
Clay Street
Illinois Street
Brimfield Cemetery Road
Tornado
Brimfield teacher
Brimfield Grade School
Special Education
Brimfield Heating and Air Conditioning
BJ Coin Wash
Laundromat
Central Transfer Company

Interviewed by : Kim Claybaugh Hanks

Interview Format : Zoom with Slide Presentation

Total Time : 48:35 minutes

The interview is archived at the Brimfield Public Library District in Brimfield, Illinois.

The Brimfield Oral History Project is a long-term effort to record the stories of Brimfield’s past in the voices of those who remember and make these original sources available for generations to come. This collaboration is a partnership between the Brimfield Public Library District, the Brimfield Historical Society, and the Peoria County Genealogical Society.

Readers of interview transcripts, if available, should bear in mind that this is a transcript of the spoken word and that the interviewer, interviewee, and editors sought to preserve the interview as recorded. Brimfield Public Library District and project volunteers are not responsible for the factual accuracy of this interview, nor for the opinions expressed within.

© Brimfield Public Library District 2023

This interview and accompanying documents may be used for educational and non-commercial purposes without the written permission of the Brimfield Public Library District. However, the Fair Use criteria of Section 107 of the Copyright Act of 1976 must be followed. These materials may not be deposited in other repositories or used for resale or commercial purposes without authorization from the Brimfield Public Library District Director.