Virginia Hopkins

Virginia Hopkins, 82, died on May 17, 2025 at Columbia Memorial Hospital after a brief illness. Formerly of Stockbridge, Massachusetts and currently of Ghent, New York, she was born in New York City on January 26th ,1943. Virginia was the daughter of the late Howard Kingsley Smith and Virginia Blackford Smith. She was raised in Fairfield County, Connecticut where she graduated from Greens Farms Academy in Westport.

Receiving a bachelor’s degree from Miami University in Ohio and a master’s degree from Boston College, Virginia pursued a career in research and education at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the University of Cincinnati. She returned to school in 1986, obtaining a master’s degree in clinical social work from Smith College. She served individuals and families at Hospice Care in the Berkshires and at Berkshire Medical Center. Moving to New York in 2004, and following retirement from clinical practice in 2010, she received her real estate license and affiliated with the Anderson Agency in Kinderhook, New York.

Virginia was a member of Saint John the Baptist Church in Valatie, New York. She was involved in Eucharistic and pastoral care ministry, and the Junior League of Albany, New York. She was also a long-term advocate for the needs of professional and family caregivers, and the elderly and disabled in their care.

She is survived by Mary Spencer Jesse Ford, and Mer Wiren of Philomath, Oregon.

A funeral mass will be held at 10:30 AM on Wednesday, May 21st, 2025 at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church, 1820 US-9, Stuyvesant, NY 12173.

In lieu of flowers, donations in Virginia’s honor may be made to Saint Jude Children’s Research Hospital, or to the Humane World for Animals c/o of Finnerty & Stevens Funeral Home, 426 Main St., Great Barrington, Massachusetts 01230