Of interest to our area and particularly Haddonfield is the fact that a Haddonfield boy wrote a biography of Elvis.  That boy, now grown up, is Jerry Hopkins, son of Mr and Mrs F Brognard Hopkins and fourth great-grandson of Ebenezer Hopkins, the nephew of Elizabeth Haddon, founder of Haddonfield.

Jerry attended Haddonfield Friends School and was graduated from Haddonfield Memorial High School.  He was next graduated from Washington and Lee University and received his Masters Degree at Columbia.

Jerry worked at various writing jobs after finishing his formal education. He wrote material for the Steve Allen daily television show.  He did newspaper work in New Orleans, and worked at a TV writer for Mike Wallace and Mort Sahl.  He also wrote six books.  He moved to California while working for Mike Wallace and later became a contributing editor of the Rolling Stone Magazine.  He made the cover of Look Magazine with a condensation of his Presley biography.  The biography had sold over 400,000 copies up to the death of Presley and is the first biography ever on Elvis.

Jerry wrote it in 1971, from researched material without ever talking to Presley or his manager, Tom Parker.

In his research, he traveled over 7,000 miles and interviewed over 200 people.  Jerry sold a condensation of the book to Look Magazine, another 4,000 word condensation to The London Sun-Times, and a 10,000 word serial the Scottish Weekly News.  He wrote a 12 hour, 12 chapter radio series, "The Elvis Presley Story."

Jerry has traveled in Africa, Europe, and England on story assignments.  He authored "The Rock Story", a history of contemporary music, and edited "The Hippie Papers", selections from the Underground Press.

Jerry, who does free lance writing now lives in Hawaii with Jane, his wife, and their two children.

"Outside of America's technical prowess, the three most widely known contributions to the world that America has made are Mickey Mouse, Coca-Cola and Elvis," Jerry has said.

This column is the result of a conversation with his mother, Ruth, who now resides in Audubon.