First came a $250 gift certificate from the president of a grocery store chain.
Then bags full of food began appearing on the doorstep.
Soon Bob Hope, co-founder and president of Hope-Beckham, an Atlanta-based public relations firm, could nearly fill a room with groceries. He counted more than 100 bags—and they were still coming.
“I would have breakfast with friends. Afterwards, they’d walk to the car and come back with bags of groceries,” said Hope, who lives in Stone Mountain.
Related:
Dooleys help improve lives in Honduras
The donations were all made in honor of Hope’s wife, Susan, who died of cancer on April 23 at age 70. He even received an email from friends in Alaska, who asked if they could give money to a local food bank.
Nearly a dozen years ago, Susan Hope, a stay-at-home mom and full-time volunteer, looked around and decided she had been blessed with so much. So instead of birthday presents, she asked people to bring a bag of groceries.
She would then donate them to those in need—food pantries, college students and groups that helped refugees.
So this year, in honor of her birthday on July 12, friends and relatives decided to continue that tradition of giving.
That included close family friend Ann Nelson.
Susan, was a “little woman but she was a huge spirit,” said Nelson, who lives in Marietta. “She was enthusiastic about what she did and was probably one of the most altruistic people that I knew.”
Over the years, Hope estimated his wife collected thousands of bags of groceries.
“That was just what she did—give back,” said Hope, who was married more than forty years.
The Hopes were a close couple and together raised two daughters—Clair Wallace and Betsy Skarecky.
Skarecky, who lives in Lake Forest, Ill., remembers as a child that her mother used to encourage them to volunteer.
“She always taught us to do things for other people,” she said. “We didn’t realize that not every family was doing that. We were taught it was part of life. No question.”
Susan Hope lived with liver cancer for two years. Even when it weakened her, she would ask a friend to drive as she dropped off food.
When she died, her daughter, Clair, asked people to bring bags of groceries. More than 500 bags were collected during Susan's memorial service at Decatur First United Methodist Church.
When thinking of his wife, Bob Hope falls back on Scripture (Luke 12:28): “For unto whomsoever much is given, of him shall be much required.”
“What really struck me is that she’ll never leave,” he said. “Her spirit follows you around.”
Family members are considering forming a nonprofit in her name.
“We’d love to keep this going,” he said.
Indeed, when her granddaughter, Lucy, recently sent out invitations to her Star Wars-themed birthday party, she asked friends not to bring gifts—but groceries.
“I think Susan would be smiling,” said Bob Hope. “She was good people, really.”
About the Author
