Westcott, Esther Louise

WESTCOTT, JACOBSEN, NIELSEN, STOKES

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 6/1/2013 at 16:04:59

Esther Louise Westcott, 93, formerly of Clear Lake, died Thursday,
Dec. 24, 2009 at the Sheffield Care Center, Sheffield, Iowa. A memorial service
was held Tuesday, Dec. 29, at Zion Lutheran Church, Clear Lake with the Rev.
Dean Hess officiating. Inurnment will be at a later date in the Clear Lake
Cemetery. According to her wishes, her body has been cremated. Memorials may
be given to the Esther Westcott Memorial Fund.

Esther Louise Jacobsen Westcott was born March 4, 1916, to Christian and
Marie Nielsen Jacobsen, in Clear Lake. She attended school there and graduated
with the class of ‘34. She lived in Chicago for a year where she worked as a
mother’s helper for the Jensen family, originally from Clear Lake. She worked
as a telephone operator and also worked in the original Surf Ballroom.

She was married to Rex Hennis Westcott on Feb. 17, 1938. They moved to the
family farm north of Clear Lake. They were the parents of three children.

She taught Sunday School and Bible school at Zion Lutheran Church many years,
where she was a lifetime member. She was an active member of the Democratic
party, and was co-chair of the Cerro Gordo Democrats at one time. She was also
active in the Clear Lake Woman’s Club, the Countryside Club, Ventura PTA and
Music Mothers.

She was an accomplished seamstress, sewing much of the family’s clothing.
She liked to crochet, do crossword puzzles, play Scrabble and many card games,
bridge, pinnochle, 500, cribbage. She loved to go fishing. And she loved to
read.

She and Rex enjoyed an active life together. They loved to dance and went to
the Surf Ballroom often, especially for the Jules Herman Band. She enjoyed
going to flight breakfasts with him in their Aeronca Champ airplane, the one at
the Estherville airport being her favorite. When her children were grown, she
became a delivery driver for Winnebago Motor Homes. She loved to travel and
could remember every highway she had driven on.

They were members of the pinoccle club, which was formed in the early 30’s
with friends. This group had many fun times and suffered through hardships and
tragedies, too. Wonderful friends. They began spending their winters in
Weslaco, Texas in the mid 70’s. They made many new friends there and spent
hours at the bridge tables, going out to eat and just general geriatric fun.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Marie and Chris Jacobsen, who was
the last ice man in Clear Lake. They lived where Jacobsen Park is and where the
Fire Museum sits. She was preceded in death by her husband, Rex in 2001; her
brother, Delmar Jacobsen; her son-in-law, Gordon Stokes.

She is survived by her brother, Bynum Jacobsen and his wife, Vivian,
Billings, Mont.; son, Dick Westcott, Mason City; her daughters, Phyllis and her
husband, Paul Willis, Thornton, Iowa, and Gayle Stokes, Clear Lake. She is
also survived by her grandchildren, Anne Hennis Willis Happel (Charlie), Sarah
Westcott Willis, Shane Merris Stokes (Dawn), Christian Cole Stokes, Margaux
Taylor Westcott Foster (Stephen), Danielle Suzanne Westcott, and Brook Eliot
Westcott. She also has 10 great-grandchildren.