Obituary

Mary Ellen Hopkins
October 8, 1922 — April 15, 2025
Dayton
Hopkins, Mary Ellen, age 102, of Dayton, Ohio, passed away on Tuesday, April 15, 2025. She was born on October 8, 1922, the third child of Russell H. and Mildred Weidle Young, on the family farm on Lebanon Pike now Far Hills Avenue. Mary Ellen attended Pasadena, elementary school, Dorothy Lane elementary school, and graduated from Fairmont High School in 1940 in Van Buren Township. This is the current Dwight L. Barnes Junior High school and the old Board of Education building on Far Hills Avenue. After graduation she attended Miami Valley Hospital School of Nursing where she left after one and a half years. She was hired by the Mc Henry family in Oakwood, Ohio to look after a pair of twin boys and two girls for the family as a live in nanny for four months. Mary Ellen then went to work at Wright Field where she was hired as typist. On her first day she was assigned to operate a blueprint machine, due to government mix up. It was six months until a man assigned to the typist area as a runner (who was originally hired to the blue print job) noticed and tried to take over Mary Ellen’s job. But with men leaving for the service, and because she had been doing her job well, Mary Ellen kept her blue print job. She left to continue her nursing education at Christ Hospital School of Nursing, in Cincinnati, Ohio and graduated in August of 1945. She began her long career in nursing in the United States Army in the Cadet Nurses Corps, and was stationed in Louisville, Kentucky during World War II. After the war Mary Ellen went to Marion Indiana Veteran Psychiatric Hospital where she worked as a RN. Mary Ellen left Marion, Indiana with her aunt, Bessie Kress, traveling to Fort Lauderdale, Florida in January 1946, where they remained until May of 1946. She returned to Dayton and she was hired at Miami Valley Hospital in the nursery department. Mary Ellen then left for Tucson, Arizona to nurse. She then got homesick and returned back home to Dayton where she reunited with her future husband, George V. Hopkins, whom she had worked with at the Veterans hospital in Marion, Indiana. They married at David’s Church and they returned to Kokomo, Indiana. After becoming pregnant she returned to Dayton, and after having her son, Stephen Hopkins, she went to work at Wright Patterson Hospital Medical Center in 1951, as a R.N. She worked at the Center in various capacities such as labor and delivery, ICU, and both men’s wards. Mary Ellen ended up working as the night supervisor for the entire hospital and head emergency room nurse. After 35 years with the hospital she retired in 1986. After she retired she traveled to many different countries such Russia, China, Germany, Austria, France, Mexico, Canada, Hong Kong, Brazil, and many areas in the United States. Mary Ellen could often be found caring for her beautiful flower garden, when she wasn’t visiting the numerous friends she had made over the years, from the military and nursing. She enjoyed playing cards, in particular euchre, at the American Legion, with her sister, Norma Jean Hendricks, and Aunt, Alice Weidle. Mary Ellen’s greatest joy in life was spending time with her loved ones. Her tenacious, caring, and driven character will be missed by all who knew and loved her.

She is preceded in death by her parents; sister, Norma Jean Hendricks; brothers, Roy, Russell, and Paul Young; nephew, Roy Young Jr.; and niece, Kathy Wiley.

Mary Ellen is survived by her son Stephen D. (Tina) Hopkins; grandson, Stephen M. Hopkins; nieces, Patty Steffen, Karen Hendricks, Marcie Moore, and Sandra Linn; nephews, William Hendricks Jr., Michael Hendricks, and Rusty Young; and numerous extended family and friends.

She was a lifelong active member of David’s United Church of Christ where her Funeral service will be held at 10:30am on Monday, April 21, 2025, with a burial following in David’s Cemetery. In lieu of flowers donations can be made to David’s UCC, 170 W. David Rd, Dayton, OH 45429, or the John and Charlotte Michael Scholarship Fund #2506, Dayton Foundation, 1401 S. Main St. Suite 100. Dayton, OH 45409. Mary Ellen’s family would like to thank the staff at Trinity Community of Beavercreek for the exceptional care they provided during her stay there.