Mabel and Judith Jacobs were the daughters of Norwegian immigrant farmers, Andrew O. and Anna Barton Jacobs. The sisters were both talented artists and teachers at Emporia State College in Emporia, Kansas. After retiring from teaching, the women lived out their lives on the family farm “Solbakken,” near Hudson, Wisconsin
Mabel Roseanne (March 19, 1890-August 10, 1977) was a graduate of St. Olaf College, Northfield, Minnesota. While on an European tour with the college choir in 1913, Mabel elected to stay in Germany to study voice. She was stranded there throughout World War I, returning to the United States in 1919. Upon her return, Mabel joined the U.S. Opera Company and continued to develop the Wagnerian opera career she began in Germany. Standing nearly six feet tall, Mabel was a contralto with a three-octave range.
When illness cut short Mabel's opera career, she joined the faculty of Emporia College at Emporia, Kansas in 1923, resigning in 1942 to care for her elderly parents in Hudson. From 1942 until her death in 1977, Mabel gave voice lessons.
Judith Alymere Jacobs (November 20, 1894-September 17, 1982) was a graduate of the University of Minnesota and possessed a variety of artistic talents: dramatics, painting, and creative writing. Upon completing her master's degree, Judith joined the faculty of Emporia State in 1924 to teach English, speech, and drama. She retired as an associate professor of education in 1964.
While at Emporia State, Judith organized and directed the Junior Gilson Players, a drama troupe, between 1930 and 1964. A poet, writer, and musician, Judith was also a painter whose works were occasionally hung in one-person exhibitions.
