John (Bryan Dawson) Hopcraft was born on May 6, 1931 in his family home on Baharini Farm on the north shore of Lake Nakuru, Kenya.
He began school in 1937 at Saint Andrew's School in Turi, then Nakuru School and thereafter he went to Prince of Wales school in Nairobi and then to St Lawrence in Ramsgate, Kent in England, where he completed his schooling in 1948.
From then on, and until 1960, John worked on a full-time basis with Moral Re-Armament, helping Frank Buchman personally in the latter couple of years.
In 1960 he returned to Kenya to become Farm Manager on Baharini Farm, Nakuru. In 1964 John married Sandra Groves of Kenya. Their daughter, Lynne was born in October 1965.
John and Sandra managed the farm together until 1977, concurrently creating and working for The Nakuru Wildlife Trust (under the World Wildlike Fund), to establish Lake Nakuru National Park, this being finally established in 1976 from farm lands around the Lake. Wildlife research and education programmes, for local and overseas students were established.
In 1968 John did one academic study year in Ornithology and Wildlife Management at Cornell University, New York.
In 1971 their son, Grant, was born.
In 1977 John, Sandra, Lynne and Grant emigrated from Kenya to work in Canada.
John died in Creston, BC, Canada, October 1, 2016.
