The Sanilac County Community Foundation, on behalf of the Hoppinthal family, is pleased to announce the 2019 recipient of the Joseph B. Hoppinthal Scholarship is Jenna Gardner.
Jenna is the daughter of Dennis and Reta Gardner of Croswell. She is currently attending Michigan State University studying Animal Science with a concentration in Animal Industries, and a minor in Agribusiness Management. Jenna plans to graduate in May 2023. She was involved in National Honor Society in high school as well as 4-H, and FFA. In her free time, she enjoys exhibiting livestock on a county, state, and national level.
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.
