Jack Hooper

Born in 1936 in Iron Mountain, Jack grew to be a man admired throughout his community. He graduated Iron Mountain High School in 1954 and then served his country in the United States Air Force, including a post in Greenland, returning home to build a life and career that left an indelible mark on the Upper Peninsula.

For decades, he was a familiar and beloved presence at The Daily News in Iron Mountain, helping bring the stories of his community into homes each day. But if you checked the sports page, you’d find Jack was often the subject himself. A 1955 Class B champion ski jumper and accomplished lifelong golfer, he claimed over 40 golf tournament victories and held records across the U.P., earning his rightful place in the Upper Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame for both ski jumping and golf in 2015. He was a sports legend to many and a fond fixture at Pine Grove and Timberstone.

For all his trophies and wins, Jack was quick to tell you that his greatest accomplishments were his children and his grandchildren. He and his beloved wife, Susie, soulmates and inseparable best friends, built a family and a home full of laughter, palpable love, and the kind of warmth you felt the moment you walked through their always-open door. Hoop would greet you with a hello or a whistle from his favorite chair, a crossword puzzle in one hand, a Diet Coke in the other. Though he never had the chance to attend college himself, he never once skipped a day of work, quietly demonstrating a work ethic that his children would build upon and flourish from. He was unrelentingly proud of every one of them.

If you were lucky enough to know Jack, you felt his generosity in everything he did. Whether it was snow plowing a neighbor’s sidewalk or spending hours teaching his friends to be better golfers, you marveled at his calm under pressure, a man who carried himself the same way on the golf course as he did in life, measured and humble. He was also a craftsman, spending hours in his basement workshop building custom golf clubs, teaching his children the value of making things with their hands. To all those who got to play a round with him, sit across a card table from him, be his student, be given one of his nicknames, share a hotdog at the turn, or simply be in his quiet, steadying company, know that he adored each and every one of those moments.

Jack is survived by his loving wife of 64 years, Susan Hooper. Together they created and nurtured five children that he leaves behind in the wake of a life well lived, Judy (Dom Buonocore), Kathy (Matt Paupore), Bill Hooper, Beth Linn, and Sheryl (John Maloney). He also proceeds his 10 living grandchildren, Jordan and Angela Buonocore, Eric and Jacklyn Paupore, Joe, Allen and Emma Linn, and Jack, Truett and Lander Maloney; and his sister, Marilyn Spigarelli; along with many cherished in-laws, nieces and nephews.

He was preceded in death by his parents, Bill and Eleanor Hooper; and by his sweet granddaughter, Meghan Paupore, his angel who greeted him in heaven.

We will miss him and celebrate all he has given to our family and his community every day for the rest of our lives. We know he is looking down on us all from the tee box with his 1,000-watt smile and that special twinkle in his eyes. — With Love, The Hooper Family.

Visitation will be held on Tuesday, June 16, from 4 to 7 p.m. at the Erickson-Rochon and Nash Funeral Home in Iron Mountain. A Memorial Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday, June 17, at 11 a.m. at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Iron Mountain. Father Michael Chenier will officiate. Burial will be in the Quinnesec Cemetery. The Uren-Cooper-Johnson American Legion Post 50 will conduct military graveside honors.

In lieu of flowers, a memorial will be established in his memory.

Condolences may be expressed to the family of Jack Hooper online at www.ernashfuneralhomes.com.

The family has entrusted the Erickson-Rochon & Nash Funeral Home of Iron Mountain with the arrangements.