Susan Hopkins Coombs

Susan Hopkins Coombs, age 70, of Sun City Center, Florida, passed away at Home Peacefully in her sleep on Monday, May 14, 2018. Throughout her last year, Ms. Rip Van Winkle would have marathon sleep episodes that would last for days. She would awaken from them, alert and refreshed like it was a short nap. After hearing about her very first episode, she commented and laughed in disbelieve and said, “get out and then rubbing her stomach, comically the said, “I’m hungry!” She was born on Christmas Eve in Wilmington, Delaware to Irving, Jr. and Norma Hopkins and to her sibling’s displeasure, held up Christmas of 1947. She grew up in Brookside and was a graduate from Christiana High School in 1966. Her military career started when she worked in admissions at the Wilmington Hospital and along with her co-workers, was a proud weekend warrior and a member of the medical unit in the Delaware National Guard. She joined the regular Army from (1974-1977) as an x-ray technician and served in Taegu, Korea and at Fort Monmouth, N.J. She was honored to be a postal worker for 25 years and loved the camaraderie and friendship she developed as a distribution clerk until her retirement in 2004. She loved traveling and was a Floridian snowbird until she became a resident in 2012. She loved life and pursuing her dreams. Among her pleasures of connecting with facebook, and finally watching her Eagles win the Super bowl. She enjoyed RV traveling, boating, camping, miata rides, wood working, home projects and cooking. However, what brought consummate joy to her life was spending time with her grandkids, family, friends and pets. She found a piece of heaven with her Delaware Bayshore Campground friends and also with her friends and spiritual teachers from the Chakra Center. She was an inspiration to many and will be missed beyond words. She was unconditional love, pure honesty and your best friend forever, because “Once you were her friend, She was never letting you go.” She is preceded in death by her parents; her beloved grandmother, Mary Baldwin; her brother, John Hopkins; and sister, Sandra Hopkins. She is survived by her best friend, life partner and wife of 37 years, Elsa Sunnie Mendiola of Sun City Center, Florida; her loving daughter, Susan (Skip) Lowe; grandchildren, Christina Jennifer, John Wesley and Jacklynn Lowe; great grandchildren, Roxana May, and Layne Lowe; her favorite childhood sidekick and younger brother, Irv Hopkins (Rhonda) of Las Vegas, Nevada; sister, Carolyn Brown of Jacksonville, Florida; and a host of nieces and nephews across the states. She would be proud to acknowledge her love for her longtime childhood best friends, Frances Huff of Rising Sun Maryland, and Nona Cunane of Kenneth Square PA. Her special friends, Wand Fund (thank you for the fun DIY times), Barbara Ives (thank you for the belly laughs) and Doni Dotti (thank you for the spiritual journey). A Celebration of Life gathering will be held at 10 am on Thursday, September 12, 2019, at Spicer- Mullikin Funeral Home, 1000 North DuPont Parkway, New Castle, DE, where a memorial service will being at 11 am. Interment will follow in Gracelawn Memorial Park, 2220 North DuPont Parkway, New Castle, DE. Memorial Donations may be made in her name to Elmira’s Wildlife Sanctuary P.O. Box 63 Wimauma, FL 33578 and Life Path Hospice, Inc Sun City Center 3723 Upper Creek Dr. Ruskin, FL 33573.