Mourners filled the auditorium of Hopewell High School on a rainy Jan. 10 afternoon to remember Hopewell City Councilor Yolanda Wyche Stokes, whose service to Hopewell took her from homelessness to Hopewell City Council, only to see her longtime goal cut short after one year in office.
Several of the speakers at the service remembered Stokes not just as a devoted friend, family member and civil servant, but also a woman who fought to the end whenever she found injustice.
“She’d be like a tornado and tear you up like you were a trailer park,” longtime friend David Silvestro said, drawing loud laughter from the approximately 150 people in attendance…