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On January 30, 1937, Harry Lynn Hopewell married Charlotte Ross Mathews at Park View Methodist Church in Portsmouth, Virginia. He was 26 and she was 22. He was born October 10, 1910 (he used to say his birthday was ten-ten-ten) in Bridgeton, North Carolina. She was born at home in Portsmouth, November 6, 1914. He was the son of William Robert Hopewell and Rachel Ann Parson. She was the daughter of Mathew Stewart Mathews (Dee Dee) and Jessie Ross Pedigo (Nannie). Harry moved from North Carolina to Portsmouth during the depression to work with his uncle, Clyde Hopewell, who operated a florist business on Kirby Avenue off Deep Creek Boulevard. Charlotte's home was in Park View on Webster Avenue. She was a teacher of dramatic arts to private students.

Their first child, Harry Lynn, Jr. was born at Kings Daughter's hospital in Park View, December 19, 1937.

For several years they lived in an apartment on Elm Avenue in Park View. In the Spring of 1941, they moved to a new home in Waterview at 214 Rockbridge Road. Lynn was three years old. Then, Waterview was in Norfolk County, but about 1948 was annexed by the City of Portsmouth.

More children came in regular intervals: Robert Stewart on November 8, 1941, Lou Ross (Candy) on September 5, 1945, and Charlotte Nina on November 10, 1947.

In 1947, on the day Nina was born, with his brother-in-law, Stewart Mathews, Jr., Harry opened the Circle Restaurant in Portsmouth. He later left the restaurant business and worked as a contractor, building residences and as supervisor of the historic "Old Town" renovations in Portsmouth. Harry died November 26, 1988 at age 78. In 1979, Charlotte retired from a teaching career, the last eleven years as principal of John Tyler Elementary school in Portsmouth.

The photographs in this album were scanned from original prints and retouched in Adobe Photoshop. The photographs are a selection covering the period from Harry and Charlotte's marriage until the mid 1950s. Some of the best pictures were taken at Easter on the lawn of their Waterview residence. Some were taken in the backyard of Stewart and Jessie's home a few blocks away at 517 Patrick Street. Note our three dogs; Mickey, Happy and Lucky.

A printed version of the photos in this album were given as birthday presents to my brother and sisters in 2001. A CD version was sent to all family members and distributed to the following libraries:

This page last edited: June 25, 2008 Copyright© 2006 by Lynn Hopewell.