Daughter Dagney Hopp warmed up the crowd with stories of her father’s love of his family, rugby and children. Photo: Oliver Jacques.
Most of us who thought we knew Professor Maxwell Hopp were repeatedly surprised and enlightened at a memorial service paying tribute to his life at the Piccolo Family Farm on Wednesday (22 October).
The brilliant paediatrician – who died in a tragic road accident last month – saved thousands of children’s lives over a five-decade career. But there were adults indebted to him too.
“Twelve months ago, I became seriously ill,” close friend Dr Roger Thompson-Seagrave confided to the 1000-strong crowd.
“Maxwell was the first responder who came to my care; I can honestly say that without him I wouldn’t be here today.”
Wife Julia, daughter Dagney, son Josh, brother Peter, his nursing unit manager Mandy Ratcliff, fellow cyclist Craig Tilston, Dr Roger and convenor Peter Woodward each explored the different facets of his life – skilled doctor, family man, supporter of women, champion cyclist, prolific swimmer, tennis tragic, rugby fan, trivia whiz, coffeeholic and Griffith-ophile.
“Max always said to me that the best years of his life were in this town,” Julia said.
“He was never happier than when he was in Griffith.”
Rain started falling early-on during the outdoor proceedings, but the stories were so captivating that many in the crowd remained seated as they were drenched.
Fittingly, the skies quickly cleared, sunlight shone through and we began to cry, laugh and gasp while discovering the subtle, unnoticed ways he cared for his children and community.
“Dad would balance his stethoscope on the car heater to make sure he took the chill off before he saw his bubs,” Dagney said.
Mandy told the crowd he continued to see many of his patients after they turned 18, because he was so emotionally invested in their lives.
“He was also the first to visit his nurses if they ended up in hospital,” she said.
All speakers highlighted his dedication to family, with Josh saying he’d won the lottery by having him as a father.
The Hopp family – son Joshua, wife Julia, Professor Maxwell and daughter Dagney. Photo: Supplied.
When Professor Max’s 67-year-old younger brother Peter took the microphone, you could hear the crowd draw breath due to his resemblance to the paediatrician who served our town for 26 years.
“Hundreds of times I heard the phrase, ‘Are you Maxwell Hopp’s brother?’ I felt pressure not to disappoint; he set the bar so high for me,” Peter said.
“Max never let me feel this. He always built me up to his friends. Any little achievement of mine was embellished to its utmost by my big brother.”
Wife Julia met her future husband as a junior nurse working at a Johannesburg hospital in the late 1970s, when he instantly reminded her of Dr Zhivago from the classic film. She explained how the family ended up in Australia.
“When Dagney was three months old, I learned how to fire a gun. We had three handguns and a pump-action shotgun in the house. That’s what life was like [in South Africa in the 1980s],” she said.
The pair considered moving to Griffith and the deal was sealed when Professor Max was sent a news story from the local paper.
“The article said, ‘Today in Griffith, an orange was thrown in anger’. Max read that, and he said, ‘I want us to go there,’” Julia recalled as the audience laughed.
The professor remained in South Africa long enough to go to Ellis Park and watch his beloved Springboks win the Rugby World Cup in 1995.
“When dad came home, we danced together in our pyjamas singing Shosholoza; it was amazing,” Dagney said.
The Hopp family thanked all those who helped put the memorial together. Photo: Supplied.
Just four years later, the Hopps moved from their luxury home in Johannesburg to a budget motel in Griffith, where Julia did the family’s washing in the bathroom sink. They fought bureaucracy for four years before each blessing their new country with a skill it desperately needed.
The Riverina was the perfect home for Professor Max, who would ride up Scenic Hill every day and sometimes as far as Leeton and Whitton. Peter Piccolo, who proudly hosted the memorial at his farm, was regularly by his side.
The doctor built up an impressive collection of Italian aerodynamic high-speed road bikes. How many? “One less than causes a divorce,” Craig Tilston recalled him saying.
It was his wife Julia who shared the quote that most summed up her husband – a sentence she’d heard years before they met. She was eight years old when a children’s entertainer told her: “A man is never so tall as when he stoops to help a child”.
“My dear family and friends, my husband, Max, was the tallest man I had the privilege of spending my life with,” she concluded the service, to rapturous applause.
