Erma was born on a farm in rural Brookside, Pennsylvania to Ralph and Louise Hopkins.  She was stricken with polio as a young child which resulted in lifelong problems with her hips and legs, ultimately having both her hips replaced later in life.  She left home as a teenager to work as a live-in helper for the Day family in Williamsport, PA and to attend school.  Her classmates and co-workers gave her the nickname “Hopi”.  She went on to attend nursing school in Williamsport and became a Registered Nurse and joined the US Army during World War II.  Traveling to serve at Tripler Hospital in Hawaii, she was aboard a ship and traveled through the Panama Canal which greatly impressed her.  It must have been a wondrous sight for someone from rural Pennsylvania leaving home for the first time.

Erma met and married Warren Chamberlain while in Hawaii, left military service and gave birth to their first of four children, Warren Chamberlain, Jr.  The ensuing years resulted in many moves to live in Germany, Taiwan and bases in the US and when she could not move abroad with her husband she and the children would return to live with her parents on their farm in Brookside, PA.  She gave birth to Charles while in Pennsylvania, later to Rodney while living in Washington, DC and some years later to her last child and only daughter Teresa at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, DC.

Erma had a jovial disposition and was very outgoing…