Thomas Albert Roper

Published 12:06 am Sunday, June 1, 2014

April 27, 1933 — May 29, 2014

BISMARCK, Ark. — Services for Thomas Albert Roper, of Bismarck, N.D., who died Thursday, May 29, 2014, will be at 3 p.m. today at Valley Missionary Baptist Church near Bismarck with the Rev. Katherine Pearce officiating.

Burial will be in the Valley Cemetery under the direction of Davis-Smith Funeral Home in Hot Springs.

Mr. Roper was born April 27, 1933, in Crystal Springs, the son of Thomas Edell Roper and Jessie Lynn Neal Roper.

Tom Roper spent a life devoted to expecting excellence from anyone he encountered — demanding vigorous attention to issues of physical endurance, health and nutrition in pursuit of longevity, succumbing after nine years to cerebral stroke.

He graduated Central High School in Jackson in 1950. He joined the United States Air Force and served in French Morocco. He acquired Golden Gloves Middle Weight Boxing championship. He attended Ole Miss in 1955 and continued his education at San Francisco State College, the University of Mississippi in Oxford and San Francisco, California State University in journalism.

He was employed at his sister’s business, Jackson Secretarial Service, in 1954 before entering Ole Miss. After returning from the West coast, he became a photojournalist for the Jackson, Mississippi Clarion Ledger, the Mississippi Press Register, where he received the top state photojournalist award and The Fort Lauderdale Sun Sentinel, where he also won awards. Tom worked for Hallmark in the public relations department for several years and then was a photographer at The Natchez Democrat. His photographic talent was greatly appreciated by his family, as well as the newspaper public. After a short stint at a Texas paper, he moved to Hot Springs, where he met his wife, Julie Shuffield, who he married Dec. 10, 1993, and with whom he has been blessed for almost a quarter century sharing his heart and soul, a wife he treasured greatly.

Mr. Roper was preceded in death by his parents; one brother, Billie Edell Roper; one brother-in-law, Richard B. Sharp, Sr.; one brother and sister-in-law, William Edell and Dorothy Roper; and three nephews, Scott Roper, John T. Stevens and Richard B. Sharp Jr.

Survivors include his wife of Bismarck; his father-in-law, Arvis Shuffield of Pearcy; his brother-in-law, Michael Shuffield of Pearcy; his children, Matthew Stuart Roper of Mobile, Ala., Cathy Roper Kraus and her husband, Andrew of Miami, Fla., Mark Roper of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla., and Francisco Miguel Cabrera-Roper and his wife, Kelley of Bozeman, Mont.; one daughter; six grandchildren; one great-grandchild; one sister, Stella Roper Sharp of Natchez; and numerous nieces and nephews; and a host of friends.

Pallbearers will be Richard Crook, Richard B. Sharp III, Thomas O’Brien, D. Chapman Sharp, Chris Rope, and Ron Daniel.

Honorary pallbearers will be Arvis Shuffield, Michael Shuffield and Michel P. Stevens.

Memorials may be made to Second Chance Animal Rescue, 632 Mulligan Lane, Malvern, AR, 72104-6362; Helping Hands of Bismarck, 3866 Highway 7, Bismarck, AR, 71929; or New Beginnings Outreach Food Bank, 503 Beaton Creek Road, Bismarck, AR, 71929.

Online condolences may be sent to davis-smith.com.