This story begins with a boy.

He grew up in Union and his work history even begins with being a paperboy for The Union Daily Times.

“That was my first job,” the now 67-year-old said.

Between his paper tossing, school, friends and everything else, however, this boy came to know a man who worked endless hours and who was dedicated to his community.

That man was his father.

And it’s his father’s footsteps Dr. Harold P. Hope Jr. decided to follow.

Hope has returned to Union to practice surgery at Wallace Thomson Hospital and the Union Hospital District. Out of retirement, the doctor now works 10 days each month — at the moment — and returned to his hometown and old stomping ground to work about three months ago.

He retired a few years ago after working 25 years in a large surgical group in Charlotte where he still resides with his wife Jane and where the couple raised their two children — 36 year old Harold who is a lawyer and 34 year old William who is also a doctor. He’s also worked at several major hospitals including those of Presbyterian Healthcare and Carolinas HealthCare System.

But it was the call of his native home and his father — who practiced medicine in Union for 50 years — that led him back here to serve again.

“I wanted to give them 10 days a month — to give them whatever I could,” Hope said. “If somebody wants to see me, we schedule them.”

He focused mainly on doing cancer surgeries while working in Charlotte. Because of the size of his surgical group, he was allowed to specialize somewhat. However, here in Union he does all kinds of surgeries and said the surgical unit at Wallace Thomson is one of the best.

“We can do anything — that’s reasonable — and we know when we need to send patients out,” Hope said. “The upside of what Union can do is very uplifting.”

He hopes more specialty services will be made available in the future and more doctors will set up practices in Union so the citizens of the city and county continue to have the best possible care available right here at home. Since coming back, however, he’s been impressed with the hospital, its staff and its services.

He’s also impressed with the plans the hospital district has for the future and excited to see them come to fruition.

But things certainly have changed since his father practiced here.

“One of the grandchildren called him Grandfather Mountain,” Hope said. “And I think he was like a mountain.”

He remembers riding with his father on house calls and answering the phone at home for him. Hope said his father delivered a lot of babies in Union County and was always busy. There were times the previous Dr. Hope would come home from one call, get another and go right back to work.

There were no x-rays or lab work results like there are today when his father practiced in his early years and most doctor visits were made to a person’s home and Hope said there’s something to be said about a doctor treating a person by their own bed.

“People still remember, ‘Boy, he drove out to my house,’” he said.

His father didn’t even believe in having an answering machine.

“He believed doctors should answer the phone all the time,” Hope said.

His father was one of only a few who was able to stay on the home front to practice during World War II and his love of his community and work is something that shines through his son today. Hope’s grandfather also was a doctor in Union County, practicing in the Lockhart area several decades ago and had a hospital named after him — Hope Hospital — that now is closed down.

It’s that legacy Hope and now his son William are carrying on.

In fact, he’s had several people compare him to his father — who passed away in 1991 — since returning home and many people are telling him stories about his father he’s now writing down.

“They compare me a lot to him,” Hope said. “They think I look like him a lot.”

But it’s a comparison that’s not too easy for him.

“That’s a heavy burden,” Hope said. “Because I don’t think I can measure up to that. He did whatever he could to help the sick and people realize that.”

It’s not that he doesn’t give his all to help his patients — just the same way his father did. He’s even traveled around the world to help sick people as part of missions and volunteered for an organization called Serving In Mission — or SIM — that examines other missionaries when they come back to the United States.

His job, he said, has been made somewhat easier with the introduction of technologies his father didn’t have until the latter part of his long career. He hopes, however, doctors — like himself — still are willing to go the extra mile for their patients.

“I hope we’re still willing to give of ourselves and pour ourselves out for people’s needs,” Hope said. “That’s what life is really about.”

But for the 67-year-old, coming back to Union is about more than carrying on the family name. He wants to see Union and Union County succeed and feels when something bad happens here it’s like it’s happening to him.

Hope remembers a thriving community in his childhood. One where people were working and business was great. Of course, things have changed since he’s been gone but he’s found one aspect of his home that hasn’t — the people.

“The people are still the same,” he said, adding the people of Union and Union County always have been intelligent and lovable. “I still believe we’ve got the best people around and so many people are working hard to make it a great place to live.”

Hope is glad to be home practicing what he — and his father — love and is committed to helping Union and Union County succeed.

“I want the hospital to succeed and I want the county to succeed,” he said.

AT A GLANCE:

Dr. Harold P. Hope Jr.

HOMETOWN: Union

CURRENT RESIDENCE: Charlotte

EDUCATION: 1959 Union High School graduate, 1963 Presbyterian College of Clinton graduate, 1967 Medical University of South Carolina graduate.

WORK HISTORY: Completed his residency at the Emory University of Hospitals in Atlanta in 1972, member of the U.S. Air Force during Vietnam from 1972-74 stationed at Maxwell Air Force Base in Alabama, began working for a surgical group in Charlotte — where he stayed for 25 years —after being discharged from the military.

FAMILY: Wife, Jane; two sons, Harold, 36, and William, 34; four grandsons.