Friends, family share memories at Hoover memorial service
Posted on Wednesday, August 22, 2007
People would do well to live like the Hoovers did. The family of four died last week in a horrific traffic accident while on vacation in Mexico. On Tuesday, they were celebrated, honored, mourned and missed by several hundred people who gathered for a memorial service at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Fayetteville. Steve, 62; Sharon, 51; Maureen, 34; and Paul, 34; exemplified the finer points of the human spirit, something easy to see in the impact they had on their family, friends, colleagues and acquaintances in the overflow crowd that filled the sanctuary and parish hall for the service. The happiness and love they had for each other stood out in the photos displayed at the conclusion of the service. The Hoovers were on the way to Akumal, Mexico, when they were struck by the driver of a sport utility vehicle while traveling on a highway on the Mexican Coast, about an hour south of Cancun. The family left Northwest Arkansas Regional Airport at about 10 a. m. Aug. 14 and were about 23 miles from their destination when the wreck occurred.
“ I tried to put some words together. I couldn’t do it, ” said Dan Coody, Fayetteville mayor and friend of the Hoovers. Coody spoke of Steve, whom he had known for 32 years, and Sharon, whom he met when she and Steve started dating. Steve was an exceptional artist, from whom Coody said he learned much, though he wasn’t much on organization. When it came time to clean his workshop in Houston, Coody said, Steve would simply turn on the exhaust fan and blow the sawdust around with an air hose, producing a mist outside. Coody said people at the bus stop outside the building especially disliked it when Steve took a shovel and threw sawdust into the fan.
Coody said Steve changed when he met Sharon.
“ He found something he really needed to have, ” Coody said.
When the two moved to Fayetteville, Coody said the town found something it needed. Where Steve contributed to the community through sculpture, he said, Sharon gave of herself, serving as chairman of the Fayetteville Planning Commission and on the board of directors of the Fayetteville Downtown Partners.
Coody said that in years to come, though they won’t know who to thank, people will still benefit from Sharon’s work on the Downtown Master Plan and City Plan 2025.
“ Sharon’s fingerprints will be all over the future here, ” Coody said.
Charles Pebworth, a friend and mentor to Steve, shared his memories of the man, whom he met in the early 1970 s. Pebworth described how a car pulled up to his house and a woman got out and introduced Steve as someone who wanted to be a graduate student of his.
“ I didn’t realize that would be a lifetime commitment, ” Pebworth said.
Pebworth described Steve as a shy, unassuming bear of a man and lifelong friend. He said that he and Steve kept in contact in the years since they worked together and the student went out on his own. He said he and his wife just moved up to Fayetteville to be closer to their grandchildren and that he was excited to be able to be close with Steve again, “ but that was cut short. ”
Sarah Terry spoke of her friend Maureen, who she said was like a sister. She said the two were so close that when they got together, “ We talked so fast no one could understand us. ”
Maureen was the city’s first community affairs director and went on to become associate director of pre-college programs and director of the Upward Bound Academy for Math and Science at the University of Arkansas.
Terry described Maureen as “ a great mix of contradictions. ”
Maureen was intelligent and wellread, traveled and informed, she said. At the same time, she had an affinity for bad television, like “ The Bachelor” and “ So You Think You Can Dance, ” she said.
“ She actually invested in TiVo so she could tape ‘ Magnum P. I. ’ reruns, ” Terry said.
Terry said that Maureen was also environmentally conscious, to the point that whenever they would go out to eat, she would often have the waitstaff look for foil or cardboard, anything besides Styrofoam, that she could use to take her leftovers home.
This insistence on not using Styrofoam extended to those around her, Terry said, recounting a lunch she had with Paul after he had discovered Brenda’s Bigger Burger. Terry said they “ ate the most wonderfully greasy food and drank out of big Styrofoam cups. ”
Of course, they took an oath of silence about the Styrofoam, she said.
While Maureen, Sharon and Steve were busy helping to shape the community in Fayetteville, Paul was doing his part in Fort Smith as a driver with the city’s Fire Department.
Fort Smith firefighter Chris Taylor spoke about Paul, their “ superman. ”
“ Hoov was my friend, ” Taylor said. “ He was the gold standard by which all of us were measured. ”
Taylor said that he thought Paul was truly unique until he met Maureen, after which he thought they were the only two just like them in the world. That thought continued until he met Sharon and Steve, after which Taylor said he thought he was “ in the dark socially. ”
Taylor said that Paul was someone who made those around him strive to live their lives the best they could and not be satisfied with second best. He said Paul changed him for the better, and he encouraged everyone to honor his memory.
“ Try a different type of food, watch a different show than you normally would, give that someone another chance, be objective on something you normally wouldn’t, and give that workout routine one more try, ” Taylor said.
Neil Rainey, Maureen’s brother, spoke of his sister, someone he described as “ completely irreplaceable. ”
Rainey also encouraged people to emulate his sister.
“ Go home and live your life fully and chase your dreams. That’s what she did every day and what she would want you to do, ” Rainey said. “ Have fun and don’t use Styrofoam. ”
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