Sitting in a wheelchair at the foot of  her bed at the Patuxent River Health and Rehabilitation Center, Catherine Johnstone Hopkins looked serene and at peace while watching the fall foliage through her large window.

“I like being in this corner to myself so I can watch the leaves change colors, and the traffic,” Hopkins said in a soft voice. “I just like to be quiet these days, reading my Bible and relaxing indoors.”

For 46 years, Hopkins was the organist and pianist for St. Mark’s United Methodist Church on Eighth Street, walking distance of the home she owned at the time at Ninth and West streets.

Although now she enjoys a low-key lifestyle, on this particular day Hopkins was looking forward to a party the next day to celebrate her 103rd birthday.

On the day before the big event, she was quick to point out with a smile, “I’m still 102. I’ll be 103 on Oct. 10.”

At the party, held Oct. 9, more than 50 people showed up with presents and cards for “Miss Katie,” as she’s called by family, friends and employees at the assisted-living senior facility where she moved after a stroke four years ago.

Some came from Baltimore, but the majority were friends from the Grove community, where Hopkins was born, raised and lived her entire life.

“She taught me how to play the piano,” said Helen Crutchfield, who lives across the street from Hopkins’ former home on Ninth Street.

Crutchfield visits Hopkins several times a week, takes care of her bills and does her laundry every Tuesday. “She’s a wonderful, meek, but very friendly woman who has a high reverence for God.”

“She’s such an inspiration to us all because, at her age, she never complains about anything,” said Charles Gregg, a St. Mark’s Church member, who presented Hopkins with a collection of proclamations from Congressional, state and local elected officials in honor of her birthday. “She’s one of the most pleasant people I’ve ever met, who doesn’t let things worry her and has a steadiness we all strive for.”

Another Grove neighbor who attended the party, Robert Marshall, has known Hopkins all of his life and lived a few doors down from her Ninth Street home. He used to take Hopkins and her sister — who died 12 years ago, a week before her 100th birthday — grocery shopping.

“I also used to do their laundry and whatever they needed me to do,” he said. “I miss her being in the neighborhood.”
Hopkins said she misses being in her cherished Grove community, too, which she admitted has changed dramatically over the years, and recalled that when she was growing up, life was a lot simpler.

“It was a lot more country than it is now and my parents raised pigs in the Grove,” she said. “During that time, we walked a lot and didn’t have to be afraid of anything or have to lock up everything and stay locked up in our houses, worrying that someone was going to break in” she said.

A favorite time of the year for Hopkins was Labor Day weekend when Emancipation Day was held, an African-American celebration of the end of slavery that dates back to the early 1900s in Laurel.

“Oh, boy, that was the day,” she said. “The parade with the bands from Baltimore would go through the Grove and we had baseball games. Then, we’d dress up for the dance that night and go to church on Sunday. Those were good days.”
Hopkins never married, “by choice,” she said, but when she was in her early 20s, she traveled throughout Prince George’s County playing the piano with a jazz band.

“I played and I’d sing wherever we could make some money. The band members treated me like a sister, but I quit when I started playing for the church, St. Mark’s,” she said.

On the day of her party, the Rev. Robbie Morganfield, St. Mark’s pastor, sang happy birthday to Hopkins. He goes to the senior center at least once a month to serve communion to Hopkins, who he described as having a “razor-sharp mind.” Last year, he persuaded her to attend the church’s homecoming celebration.

“It was such a joy to see her there and it was a surprise to the congregation,” Morganfield said. “They’d tried getting her there (since her stroke) but couldn’t. She said she came because of me and that was so special to me.”

In addition to her church work, Hopkins had full-time jobs as a seamstress at Fort Meade and as a laborer at the University of Maryland. She attributes her longevity to not having bad habits, such as drinking or smoking, and maintaining a healthy diet.

“I took care of myself and the good Lord blessed me,” Hopkins said.

Blessed with 103 years of life and still counting. As Hopkins looked at the newspaper front page announcing Barack Obama’s presidential win that’s posted prominently on her bulletin board, she smiled and said, “I thought I’d never live to see that happen, but thank God I did. At my age, with my parents and so many others gone, I thank God every day for my long life, and I look forward to meeting people and for the things that those I know do for me. It means a lot.”

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