The life and passions of Barbara Hoopingarner will be seen by churchgoers every Sunday as they walk into the services.
The Hoopingarner family dedicated a memorial garden at the University Lutheran Church, 1020 S. Harrison Ave., to Barbara, who died two years ago. An artist and avid gardener, the family thought of the idea after friends and family inquired about buying one of her paintings.
The family decided to hold an auction of some of her work on the family Web site to pay for the garden. The 62 pieces of artwork include many watercolor paintings of flowers. The auction will close June 30.
“I think it is a way to honor her work,” said Roger Hoopingarner, Barbara’s husband and a retired MSU professor.
The auction is being held on the family Web site because some of the family’s relatives and friends are abroad.
Roger Hoopingarner said the idea was perfect for the project.
“The idea of an online auction allows for families from all over to participate,” he said.
The family will sell some of the original artwork, but it does intend on keeping some of the pieces that have special meaning to them.
“We have kept many pieces because they are very personal,” said Hoopingarner’s daughter, Lynn Hoopingarner.
Family members are also learning of others who have been touched by her art.
“Painting No. 5 is one that I love,” Lynn Hoopingarner said. “That is a very special painting that is very personal to us because it is our garden and yet it has touched many people.
“It never occurred to me because it was so personal to me.”
Retired Professor Charlie Downs, a friend of the family and church member, said the garden will be beautiful when it is finished blooming.
“It was just installed last fall so it hasn’t had the chance to develop,” he said, “but it is a very nice little garden.”
Dale Hoopingarner said the gardening meant something much deeper to his mother.
“It’s an act of faith to always plant something in the spring and to expect that it is going to make it through the whole year; it kind of symbolizes a lot,” he said. “Planting is faith that the rain is going to come and the sun is going to shine and that is what it meant to her.”
Senior Pastor George Madsen said the garden will be a marvelous place for the congregation and a great gift from the Hoopingarners.
“It’s a place of respite and a place of rest and refreshment,” he said. “I think the biblical passage that was chosen indicates that kind of freshness is a constant gift and the Hoopingarner family had someone there, Mrs. Hoopingarner, who knew those kinds of things.”
To view or place a bid on Hoopingarner’s paintings, visit www.hoopingarner.org.
