Leslie (Worsham Lee) Hopkins

Birth: She was born in 1902 at Shreveport, Louisiana.

Family Information: Wife of John Henry Hopkins.

Mother of Delsya (Lee), Charles (Lee) and Mary Katherine Hopkins.  

Description:  

Pre-Colony History: In 1920 she was living in Dubberly, Louisiana with her parents and brother.

She came with her husband and three children to the colony from Shreveport, Louisiana in October 1928. It was mentioned that she was a trained seamstress and would work with the efficient colony dressmakers, though before the month was over, it had been discovered that she possessed a Louisiana Teacher's Certificate and she was put into service in the colony schools.  

Home in Colony:  

Job in Colony: She was a teacher in the colony school -- in October it was announced that she'd have full supervision of the kindergarten out at the children's colony.

In November 1928 she and Bee Jensen would walk a happy group of children to the children's colony every morning. There were about twenty of those little people and they came from many homes in Llano -- their little bare feet playing in the dust as they imagined themselves to be horses, steam engines and automobiles, going up the mountains, over the plains or working in the fields. Mrs. Hopkins stayed with them all day, but Bee returned to town with the large group to tend school in the PM.

In December 1928 she was caring for the kindergarten children while Mrs. Besse taught the primary grades. Mrs. Bennett was the principal of the department.

In March 1929 Mrs. Pewther was put in charge of the Kid Kolony part of the school where the kindergarten was in operation and she and Mrs. Besse took over the first, second and third grades. Mrs. Hopkins stayed on as the housekeeper and saw to it that the little folks were fed twice a day in the Kid Kolony building.

In October 1929 at the Rice Ranch -- she and Anna Yeldell working hard, removing many loads of weeds and rubbish from the rice fields and replacing them by a liberal distribution of manure from the cow-stables; the two women alternating in driving the trucks and throwing the loads of fat fertilizer over the land with their shovels and pitchforks. Theodore Cuno reported they were "laughing and singing, these two college women, both of whom are well versed in Latin and several modern languages."

"I do not mind," smilingly explained Leslie, "as long as we co-operate in paving the way to better conditions for our children and the generations that come after them!" Cuno went on to note -- "this pretty and amiable woman sometimes enjoys only two hours of sleep, what with her work starting at sunrise in the dairy and cooking, washing, sewing, house-cleaning and taking care of three children."

Other Info: In April 1929 she made a trip to Shreveport to visit her family.

In August 1929 the Hopkins family visited the Rice Ranch. A week later, Pickett carried them, along with a truckload of furniture driven by Baldwin, to the Rice Ranch. The idea was that the Hopkins family would take the place of the Kimballs who were moving back to Newllano.

In October she and Katharine caught a ride with Comrade Yeldell back to the main colony, where they stayed for several days and finished packing the family's household goods for shipment to the Rice Ranch.

In November 1929 the Rice Ranch house was serving more or less as a hospital There had been five recent cases of sickness, some of them serious. Leslie Hopkins was abed with nervous prostration, too feeble to rise or walk; Anna Yeldell had been down for several days with a severe and painful catarrh of throat and lungs; Violet Dix was suffering from incipient catarrh; her boy had had the chicken pox and therefore stayed from school; and Cuno had been troubled with a persistent attack of bronchitis.

A week later she, having partly recovered from her nervous attack, left the ranch to take a long rest at her parental home in Shreveport. With her went her three children and Violet Dix with her dark-haired boy.

Post-Colony History: In 1930 she was living with her husband and children in Webster Parish, Louisiana. She was still living in Webster Parish in 1935.

In 1936 her name was changed with the Social Security office back to Leslie Worsham Lee -- it seems likely that she may have re-married her first husband, Auris Lee at this point. In 1940 she was living in St. Louis, Missouri with her children and one son-in-law; at the time she was working as a sewing machine operator at a tailor shop and still listed as "married," though no husband is listed as a resident in the home.

In 1941 her name was changed to Leslie Worsham Tiffany; in 1972 to Leslie Audrey Tiffany; and finally in 1991 to Leslie A. Tiffany.

Death: She died in 1991 at Saint Augustine, Florida and was buried in Fellowship Cemetery at Dubberly, Louisiana.

Sources: "Llano Colonist": October 6, 1928, October 27, 1928, November 3, 1928, December 15, 1928, March 2, 1929, April 20, 1929, August 24, 1929, August 31, 1929, October 3, 1929, October 12, 1929, November 2, 1929, November 9, 1929; US Census: 1920, 1930, 1940; US Social Security Applications and Claims Index; FindAGrave.com