Family and friends say Robert Hopkins “Hop” Kidd, a distinguished DeKalb lawyer and judge for decades, always placed a high emphasis on treating people kindly and courteously, even if he was opposing them in a legal case.
“He never met a stranger and he just was always friendly to anyone he met. And he was always kind and had kind words to say about everybody,” said his wife of 33 years, Judy Kidd.
Law was a great passion for Hop Kidd, who graduated from Clemson University and later from the Emory University School of Law. He practiced as a lawyer around 30 years then as a magistrate court judge for about a decade, and served as the president of the DeKalb Bar Association in 1971.
Being a judge was a job that daughter Kathy Baus said he always treated as an honor.
“To serve his community and to do the right thing and to sit the bench, he loved that,” she said, remembering when she was a young girl how he would take her to work with him on the Saturdays he had to spend sitting on the bench. “He had quite an influence.”
He got his greatest satisfaction from mentoring young lawyers and judges, not just in the practice of law but in the practice of how to treat others. He would attend and speak at seminars all across Georgia.
“His ability and willingness to teach young lawyers how to treat other people was probably the most important thing that I learned from him,” said Bill Witcher, a colleague and friend for nearly 40 years. “You just need somebody to teach a young lawyer how to interact and treat other people and that was Hop’s message.”
Robert Hopkins Kidd, Sr., 88, of Snellville, died of complications from Alzheimer’s at home Friday. A service is planned for 11 a.m. Wednesday at First Christian Church of Decatur. H.M. Patterson & Son – Spring Hill Chapel is handling arrangements.
In addition to his love of law, Kidd had a passion for gardening. His wife said he worked an acre-long garden almost entirely on his own for years and grew vegetables he would just give away to people. Baus said he grew amazing tomatoes.
He was well respected in his career and in his garden, but daughter Wendy Brown said she always appreciated the most that “he didn’t have to be our father but he was.” Kidd raised Brown, Baus and sister Sandy Linginfelter of Atlanta from a young age after he married their mother.
Brown said, “He taught us all how to drive, put us all through school. He chose to be our father and he raised us as his own.”
Kidd was very giving of himself and has a long-standing reputation among family and friends of doing for others.
In addition to his three daughters and his wife, Kidd is survived by sons, Robert H. Kidd, Jr. of Acworth, William Kidd of Duluth and W. Bryan Kidd of Avondale Estates; daughter, Elizabeth “Betsy” Kidd of Tucker; 10 grandchildren and one great grandchild.
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