Andover - Frank West Hopkins, born in Springfield, MA on June 15, 1931, died peacefully at his home in Andover on November 15, 2025, surrounded by his family. During his 30 years of retirement, the most joyful of his life, he devoted himself to his wife of 52 years, Belva. They both enjoyed visits with their children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, especially at family reunions and gatherings for weddings of children and grandchildren.

Frank and Belva loved adventure and traveled extensively in retirement, visiting Africa, Europe, Tibet, China, New Zealand, Australia, South America, and Central America. While on a trip to Copan, Honduras in 2000, Frank and Belva visited the Mayatan School, which had been established by a group of Honduran parents who wanted to improve the education of their children, and to teach them English – a valuable skill for young Hondurans. When approached, they agreed to teach English at the school, and Frank agreed to become the school's director. Under Frank's leadership, the school thrived. He set up a foundation that put the school on a firm financial footing and, back in the United States, established Hope for Tomorrow, a 501-3(C) charitable organization that raises money for scholarships to the Mayatan School. The foundation, Hope for Tomorrow, and Frank and Belva's own generosity eventually enabled construction of a beautiful new school building. The school is still going strong today, with a large and vibrant student population. Frank has described this work as some of the most meaningful of his life.

Frank loved music, and sang bass in the Andover Chorale Society, the West Parish Church Choir, and the Sunrise Singers. As an undergraduate, he played trombone in the Harvard University Band.

Frank and Belva were generous and gracious hosts. Their lovely home and extensive rose gardens were the site of many community events for the various organizations they were part of – West Parish Church, the Merrimack Repertory Theater, the New England Rose Society, the Spade & Trowel Garden Club, the Harvard Club, and the Andover Sister Town Organization, among others.

Frank was a proud early adopter of green building practices. He remodeled their home extensively, starting in 2006, to have net zero energy consumption, and he shared his journey to net zero during presentations to the community, complete with slides and photos. Frank particularly excelled at researching and documenting projects such as this and many others. He was the genealogist of the family, completing multiple bound books containing facts, dates, pictures and stories of ancestors on all sides of the family.

Frank had a long career as a system engineer, primarily with air defense systems. After receiving his master's degree, he was employed by the MIT Lincoln Laboratory and the newly formed MITRE Corporation, working initially on development of the SAGE continental air defense system, the first digital computer-based air defense system. He was particularly proud of his work leading the development of the first Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS). After twenty years with Lincoln and MITRE, Frank joined Raytheon Company, where he worked on interoperability of the Patriot Surface-to-Air Missile System with other air defense systems, and on other projects.

Frank received a Bachelor of Arts in Mathematics from Harvard University in 1952, and a Master of Arts in Mathematics, also from Harvard, in 1957. In between he served as an officer in the U.S. Naval Reserve, first as CIC officer of the USS John S. McCain (DL3) and, later, as an instructor in Air Defense at the U.S. Fleet Air Defense Training Center in Dam Neck, VA, achieving the rank of Lieutenant Junior Grade.

Frank is survived by his wife, Belva; his sister, Martha Booth of St, Paul, MN; his seven children, Nina Benkley of Carlisle, Tanya Lee of Oviedo, FL, Will Hopkins of Pelham, NH, Mark Hopkins of Strongsville, OH, Harriet Hopkins of Bonita Springs, FL, Anne Hopkins of Bonita Springs, FL, Catherine Rozamus of Salem; 19 grandchildren and 18 great-grandchildren.

A celebration of Frank's life will be held at West Parish Church in Andover on June 13th, 2026. A time will be determined and will be on Conte Funeral Home's website when available. For online condolences please visit www.contefuneralhomes.com

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Nature Conservancy of Massachusetts.