Fran Hopkins

School nurse Age: 75

Fran Hopkins, 75, died on May 22, 2020, of complications of COVID-19. She contracted the disease while caring for her husband, Bill.

“She watched over me like a hawk,” Bill Hopkins said the week after his best friend and wife of nearly 54 years died. “I was at home, and I recovered at home only because of her and only her. I would not have made it without her.” Family and friends say her death was emblematic of the way she devoted herself to helping every child who passed through Horne Street Elementary School’s nurse’s office during her 25-year tenure, from 1991 to 2016.

The beloved wife, mother and grandmother played many roles, but family, friends and members of the school community say Horne Street is where Fran Hopkins cemented her reputation as a caring figure whose compassion had no bounds.

“She was a real-life superhero,” said Betsy Breen, her daughter.