More than 1,000 mourners, garbage collectors and state senators alike, turned out Tuesday to bid a final farewell to J. Robert Hooper, the popular Republican state senator known for his quick wit and spirituality.
“Every ounce of energy, strength and commitment of this man counted and will continue to count in the kingdom of God,” said the Rev. Terry Sowden, assistant superintendent of Bel Air Church of the Nazarene.
Many of those who knew Hooper best packed the church and recalled that the veteran senator, known in the State House in part for his habit of high-fiving supporters, had even taught the residents of a Guatemalan village to high-five during a two-week missionary visit there.
“From the littlest kids to the pastor,” Sowden said.
Hooper?s son, Bobby, and daughters Cindy Hushon and Terrie Fraer recalled their family?s camping trips to the Shenandoah, where their father taught them to always leave the campsite in better shape than they found it.
“That was a huge life lesson, and that was what he did,” Fraer said.
David Hooper, Hooper?s brother, and Ed Phillips, a friend of the senator, performed a guitar version of “How Great Thou Art.” And former Boy Scouts whom Hooper had supported acted as the color guard.
Hooper, 71, had died of cancer Jan. 21, less than a month after retiring from nine years of representing Harford County in the state Senate.
The District 35 Republican resigned Dec. 31, and Del. Barry Glassman succeeded him.
Mourners recalled Hooper?s role as founder of Harford Sanitation Services and said he expressed his faith through his family, business and political life.
Laughter came as easily as tears to some of the mourners, especially when Pastor Ronald Parker read from the book of Matthew ? the verses about not hiding one?s light beneath a basket, and the salt of the earth being thrown away when it is no longer useful.
“I thought, here was a man who understood that things got thrown away,” Parker said. “The reason so many people mourn Bob Hooper is that he let his light shine; he let his life be salty.”
Fellow politicians shared stories of Hooper?s wit, including County Councilman Jim McMahan and state Sen. Lowell Stoltzfus.
“We had a conference call to him last week and told him about Gov. [Martin] O?Malley going to Ireland,” Stoltzfus said. “He could barely speak above a whisper, but we heard him say, ?Can we get him a one-way ticket?? ”
Hooper was buried Tuesday at Harford Memorial Gardens.
