Bucks
Bees and Rachel Hopkinson
Dear Friends,
Good morning. About 15 years ago, I wrote a column for the Quakertown Free Press about my friend’s mother who was a beekeeper. The story of Rachel Hopkinson and her hauling a beehive to their summer home in Vermont is a classic. Frank Hopkinson’s mother died recently. She was a spry 91.
Mrs. Hopkinson was a very practical person. Her second marriage to the brother of Frank’s father is proof of the matter. Several years after his father’s death, Mrs. Hopkinson decided to begin dating. For 30 years, she knew her brother in law and liked him. It made such good, old Philadelphia sense, don’t you think?
That’s how Frank’s uncle became his stepfather. I love that family story. The relationship complication reminds me of how Mighty Betsy and I explained our connection to the Franklin Institute and why we were included in its trip to Egypt.
“What is your connection to Dennis Wint (the President of The Franklin, as it is now known,” one of the 44 travelers asked me, a few weeks ago? Everyone had obvious associations with The Franklin…trustees and the like….except Mighty Betsy and me.
My response was that Dennis Wint was engaged to our daughter-in-law! A pregnant pause always followed my reply. But really, it wasn’t so strange. Our son’s first marriage ended in divorce but he and his former wife produced our two grandchildren. I continue to refer to her as our daughter-in-law. Everyone is quite comfortable with the term. Our son has remarried so M.B. and I have two daughters-in-law. It’s really quite simple.
But I stray.
Mrs. Hopkinson was a very independent person and an avid beekeeper. Frank told this amusing story of his mother moving her beehives to their summer home in Vermont. Here’s my recollection of the story. Since 2000, my columns are stored on my computer by year and by publication. But prior to 2000, all I have are a zillion scrapbooks, filled to the brim with ‘Meredith’s Dribble,’ as my family describes my life’s work.
Mrs. Hopkinson had an old 1976 four-door Peugeot station wagon that she used to drive her bees to Vermont. She took precautions against the bees escaping by taping mosquito netting between the front and back seats. And to insure that no mishap could occur, she placed a beekeeper’s veil (a netted hat) and gloves by her side…just in case.
Picture the scene. There she was, one sunny day in June, speeding up the New York Thruway at 80 miles per hour. Mrs. Hopkinson had a lead foot and an equally strong mind.
Gradually, the tape, to which the mosquito netting was attached, began to separate and the bees swarmed throughout the station wagon. Fortunately, she was prepared for this emergency and quickly donned her beekeeper’s hat and gloves.
Can you imagine this spectacle? Of course, you know what happened next. Spotting this old car speeding up the New York Thruway, a state policeman promptly pulled her over and attempted to arrest her.
As the officer in blue walked up to the driver’s window, he saw the interior of the station wagon buzzing with bees…and this elderly woman wearing a very strange getup.
Mrs. Hopkinson began to roll down her window and said sweetly, “How can I help you, officer?”
“Stop! Don’t roll your window down!” the state trooper pleaded. “Just slow down, lady.”
And off she sped to Vermont…calmly, so demurely.
Isn’t that a great story?
I must say that I’ve occasionally wondered whether keeping a beekeepers hat and gloves on the front seat of my old station wagon might protect me from the long arm of the law. All I’d have to do is to purchase a beehive (with no bees, of course), put it in the cargo space, and Voila! Instant protection. As the Pennsylvania Germans say, “We get too soon old, and too late smart!”
Sincerely,
Charles Meredith