Edith Sonora Hopkins

Edith Sonora Hopkins, age 79, passed away March 13, 2024 at the Mineral Wells Care Center.  Sonora was born May 17, 1944 in Gordon, Texas to Ike and Barbara Watkins.   They moved to Mineral Wells in June of 1945 and has been a resident of Mineral Wells her entire life.  On June 12, 1965 she married the love of her life, Paul Ray Hopkins, at Lawn Terrace Baptist Church in the southwest section of Mineral Wells where she grew up.

Her first job was with Duke and Ayers Variety Store on North Oak, she had a ceramic shop in the 1970’s in the two hundred block of S.E. 1st Avenue that once housed a barber shop complete with a striped pole.   The shop was just a block north of where her dad, better known as the Mattress Man, ran a mattress factory for a number of years where she spent many hours there making friends with those in the block.  Along with firing kilns and making all sorts of ceramic pieces she gave lessons to a number of local residents.  She later worked for the Mineral Wells Index and reporter in the typesetting department, and was an employee of Brazos Printing until in closed.

Sonora and her husband were avid polka fans and made a habit of attending polka dances and festivals throughout the country.  Her greatest passion was the King of Rock and Roll, she was a true Elvis fan.  She traveled to Graceland for a number of years adding to her collection of memorabilia and you could bet her car was always filled with his signature tunes.

Sonora is survived by her two sons, Paul Christopher Hopkins, Sr. and wife Beverly and Anthony Todd Hopkins; grandchildren, Stacie, Christopher, J.W. (wife Kayla) and Chance; and great grandchildren Autumn, Kinslie, Michael, Madison and Shaylee. She is also survived by a sister Tommie Cate and a special friend, Inez Watkins.

Sonora was preceded in death by her husband,   parents, and a niece, Connie Durham