A 10th award was added to the list of honors the Greater Chesterfield Chamber will bestow at its annual awards banquet. The Edgar Bruce Rogers Memorial Award will be presented for public service in honor of the firefighter who suffered a heart attack while battling the April 22 blaze that destroyed the Chesterfield Community Center.

Rogers' wife, Katherine, accepted the inaugural award at the banquet last Thursday, which was held at the Cheraw Community Center. According to Glenn Gulledge, a member of the chamber's board of directors, the award will be given to a fireman, policeman or emergency worker in Chesterfield County.

Winning the W.D. Craig Lifetime Community Service Award was Col. Julian P. "Hoppie" Hopkins.

Hopkins made Chesterfield his place of retirement in 1972. He then made the community his personal priority. He worked to have Chesterfield entered in the State of South Carolina Great Towns Program. Within this framework, he helped the community receive special recognition at the state level for business development, beautification and county promotion and revitalization.

Hopkins also reactivated the American Red Cross chapter for Chesterfield County and brought the Red Cross blood donor program to the area in 1977. Also during this same time period, Hopkins was asked by state legislator to develop a Civil Defense Preparedness Program for the county. He planned and developed a program involving communication with county officials and National Guard units, a warning system alerting the entire county, routing systems for evacuation and places for safety and shelter. He drew upon and applied knowledge gained in 30 years of military service and as a state scientist. While there was no funding to implement his plan, it has been used in creating other civil defense preparedness plans for the county.

Hopkins has also served his community through his church, first as a member of Chesterfield Presbyterian Church and later as a member of Chesterfield Baptist Church.

For more information on this story, please read the May 13, 2004 edition of the Cheraw Chronicle/Chesterfield Advertiser.