The Sanilac County Community Foundation, on behalf of the Hoppinthal family, is pleased to announce that the first ever recipient of the Joseph B. Hoppinthal Scholarship is Jaycee Whitley. Jaycee is the daughter of Ted and Nicole Whitley of Croswell. She is a 2017 graduate of Croswell-Lexington High School. Jaycee was a member of the Cros-Lex Girls Powerlifting and Softball team. She was also a member of the National Honors Society, attended the Sanilac Career Center Biotechnology program, and was the Treasurer of the FFA. She will be attending Michigan State University in the fall to study Food Science and Technology.
The Joseph B. Hoppinthal scholarship was established in 2016 to commemorate the life of Joe Hoppinthal. Joe was raised on a farm in Croswell and always wanted to be a farmer. He wanted to join the 4-H Club and have his own animals to raise and care for, but circumstances did not allow him to do that. By the 10th grade he had to quit school to help on the family farm. Ever a hard worker, he walked down the main street of Croswell from business to business until he got a job as a grease monkey at Bricker and Gill. Even at this young age he worked in town and then would walk back to work on the farm.
For personal reasons, he later left home and started working down in the city in a tool shop with no windows from which to view the outdoors and nature that he loved so much. Many years that followed were spent working two and three jobs to support his family, as well as attending night school where he earned his journeyman’s card in tool and die. He worked his way up and eventually owned his own tool and die shop, Suburban Boring, where his motto was “Quality and Service, Hand in Hand”. He was well-respected by his peers in the business.
Even though he became a successful businessman, he was a country boy whose heart never left the farm. After retiring, he was happy to move back home to Croswell where he admired the farmers in the areas. This scholarship was established to assist someone going to college for a degree in an agriculture related field. It’s is the family’s hope that Joe’s dream of being a farmer be carried on through a young person who also has the heart of a farmer.
This scholarship is administered through the Sanilac County Community Foundation (SCCF). For more information on scholarship opportunities through the SCCF, contact Melissa Anderson, Executive Director, at the Foundation office at 810-648-3634.
