journalist; born on 4 April 1907 in Randolph, in Dodge County (bordering Columbia County), to Edward W. and his wife Mary Jane (Jones) Brandel. She was their only child, evidently did well in school, and went to Madison at the age of 16 to begin studies at the University of Wisconsin. She served as a student reporter and junior editor for the University's Daily Cardinal newspaper and was a member of the Press Club. Mary was elected to Coranto, the local professional journalism sorority, Theta Sigma Phi, the Women's National Honorary Journalistic Fraternity, and Delta Zeta sorority. She graduated in 1927 with a degree in journalism, earned her Master's Degree in 1928, and was soon hired as Society Editor for the Capital Times by William T. Evjue. In 1933 she married James D. Hopkins, a Minneapolis chemist. They had two children: James E. Hopkins (1938 - 2008; married Nancy Van Wie) and Mary Ann Hopkins Baker (married Laurence C. Baker). Mary left the Capital Times for a few years to return to Randolph to start raising her family, but went back to Madison in 1941 to resume her career as Women's Editor, a job she held for the next 35 years, until she retired in 1976. James was founder and president of the Hopkins Agricultural Chemical Company, first in Randolph in 1949, and later in Madison. Mary and her husband lived in Maple Bluff in Madison from about 1943; he died in 1965 and she died in 1993 at age 85. A collection of Brandel family photographs is online in Wisconsin Historical Images.

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[Source: WHI Gallery]