Dan Ross and the Salvation Army 08, In Grad School
Houston Temple Corps, Texas

 We left Seattle and moved to Houston, Texas, so I could attend grad school. It was difficult to leave the kids behind that we had shepherd duty over for three years. After we had been in Houston for awhile, J.D. Hopps sent us this photo of him leading the Young People's Band we had formed at the Seattle Temple Corps. Most corps in the United States would have given their eye teeth to have a band like this in ANY capacity in their corps.

J.D. Hopps was the perfect leader for this band. When J.D. was 14 years old, he was old enough to become a Senior Soldier in the Salvation Army. That meant he was finally old enough to play in a Senior Band. He played in the Senior Band in Joliet, Illinois. The best indicator of the level of musicianship attained by J.D. Hopps is that at the age of 14, he not only became a Senior Soldier in the Joliet, Illinois Corps and their Senior band, but he was installed in the mighty Chicago Staff Band playing Solo Horn. AT THE AGE OF 14!! He became one of the first instructors when the Central Territory Music Institute (CMI) was created. At some time, J.D. Hopps entered the Salvation Army School for Officers Training in the Central Territory.

In the mid 50s, J.D. moved west and ended up in Seattle, Washington. Several years after coming to Seattle, J.D. took up the duty of training children in music at the Salvation Army music camps at Camp Arnold. For years he taught there. The Central Territory instigated the "Old Timers Band" at the CMI camps and invited J.D. Hopps to play in the band with other past members of the Chicago Staff Band and the prior CMI instructors. Until about four years ago, J.D. went to Chicago frequently to play in the Old Timers Band. They played the toughest music the Salvation Army had to offer and J.D. would bring back tape recordings of their performances. He would play them for me and I was always amazed at the quality of the Alto Horn sections of these bands. At age 79, he stopped attending the CMI band camps and the Old Timers Band. Since I have known J.D. Hopps, he has either been the best Brass instrumentalist in the Northwest Division or in the top three. There literally has never been a better alto horn player in this division in all of that time up to this very day.

J.D. Hopps was, and still is, one of the best musicians in the Northwest Division of The Salvation Army.

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