Services will be Feb. 28 for longtime local resident Robert Bruce Hope, who died at home in Santa Cruz at the age of 95 on Feb. 14.
Mr. Hope, the eldest of six children, was born
April 7, 1914, in Fresno County, where his father was a farmer. When he was 6 years old, his father sold the ranch and moved to Santa Cruz, where he started a chicken ranch on the property where the Hope Ranch is today.
Mr. Hope graduated from Santa Cruz High School and attended Southern California’s Occidental College, where he majored in geology.
He returned to Santa Cruz and co-owned the Soquel Lumber Co. while teaming up with a business partner to build homes, and in 1936 he met his wife, Louise Metz. When he and his friend dissolved the partnership, the Hopes moved to Oregon and spent 1½ years on a cattle ranch, but they returned to Santa Cruz and the construction business.
When World War II was declared, Mr. Hope, Louise and their daughters, Carol and Elaine, moved to Alameda, where Mr. Hope worked in the shipyards.
After the war, the family returned to the Hope Ranch and welcomed two new additions in Santa Cruz, children Bruce and Ellen. Mr. Hope began work for Coast Counties Gas and Electric Co., which later became Pacific Gas and Electric Co., where Mr. Hope worked the next 35 years until his retirement.
Mr. Hope was an active Presbyterian all his life. He was a longtime member of First Presbyterian Church and became a member of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Santa Cruz in 1991.
In the late 1950s, Mr. Hope served as a member of the Scotts Valley School Board.
He was also an avid camper and backpacker since he was a child. Family vacations were spent traversing the ridges and canyons of the Sierra. Mr. Hope continued leading backpack groups until he was well into his 80s and estimated he had led 500 people through the Sierra backcountry.
Louise died in 1986, just after the couple celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary. Mr. Hope later married longtime family friend and fellow backpacker Vera Bates. Vera and Mr. Hope were known for hosting garden parties and family weddings at the Hope Ranch. They were married for more than 21 years.
Mr. Hope is survived by his wife, Vera Grossman Bates Hope of Santa Cruz; children, Ellen Hope Bauerle of Santa Cruz, Bruce Hope, and his wife, Paula Hammett, of Petaluma, Carolyn Welch, and her husband, Ed, of Fresno, Henry Bates, and his wife, Kristi, of Santa Cruz, Gene Bryan of Hathaway Pines and Emily Duffus, and her husband, Lee, of Santa Cruz; siblings, Dave Hope, and his wife, Bee, of Fort Bragg, Jim Hope, and his wife, Pat, of Hawaii, and Roger Hope, and his wife, Lynn, of Santa Cruz; 15 grandchildren; and 18 great-grandchildren.
He was preceded in death by his first wife, Louise; two daughters, Carol Hope Bennett and Elaine Hope Bryan; and two siblings, Don Hope and Fran Hope Wheelock.
The Feb. 28 memorial service will begin at 3 p.m. at Trinity Presbyterian Church, 420 Melrose Ave., in Santa Cruz.
In lieu of flowers, donations in Mr. Hope’s name may be sent to Trinity Presbyterian Church, 420 Melrose Ave., Santa Cruz, CA 95062; or The Nature Conservancy at www.nature.org.
