DOOLITTLE, L. Esther 1914 - 2002

DOOLITTLE, HOCKENBERRY, TOPPIN, CLARK, HOPKINS, CORDES, CURRY, WATSON, CLEMONS, MORTENSEN, WRIGHT

Posted By: Pat Ludeke (email)
Date: 11/23/2017 at 09:46:32

L. Esther Doolittle, 88, Clear Lake, died Thursday, Sept. 12, 2002 at the Oakwood Care Center, Clear Lake. Funeral services were held Saturday, Sept. 14, at the United Methodist Church, 508 2nd Ave N. Clear Lake, with the Rev. Jan Burnett officiating. Interment was at the Memorial Park Cemetery, Mason City, Iowa. Memorials may be given to the United Methodist Church in Clear Lake or The Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson¹s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163.

Esther was born July 4, 1914, in Sugar Creek, Poweshiek County, Iowa, the daughter of Emery A. and Eva A. (Hockenberry) Toppin. Following high school, Esther moved to Winnebago, Minn. On Oct. 24, 1932 Esther married Raymond Doolittle. In 1959 she and her two daughters moved to Clear Lake to be close to her family. She worked at the Lake Café and in the 1960¹s she purchased the café, operating it until ill health forced her to retire.

Esther loved cooking, baking, canning, and her family. She enjoyed her big garden. Esther was a member of the United Methodist Church, Clear Lake, Navy Mother¹s, the Rebekah Lodge #105, and the Grandmother¹s Club.

Esther is survived by seven children, R. Earl Doolittle and his wife, Shirley, Fairmont, Minn., Kathryn Clark, Yakima, Wash., Mary Helen Hopkins and her husband, Richard, Fresno, Calif., Ruth Cordes and her husband, Bob, Grove City, Minn., Richard Doolittle and his wife, Sharon, Pensacola, Fla., Karen Curry and her husband, Larry, St. James, Minn., and Judy Watson and her husband, Jerry, Clear Lake; two sisters, Ruth Toppin, Clear Lake, and Gertrude Clemons, Thornton, Iowa; one son-in-law, Ken Mortensen and his wife, Kathryn, Ventura, Iowa; 23 grandchildren; 44 great-grandchildren; and four great-great-grandchildren.

Esther is preceded in death by her parents; a daughter, Donna Mortensen; three sisters, Mildred Duncanson, Helen Wright, and an infant sister; four brothers, Harlan Toppin, Paul Toppin, Maurice Toppin and Emery Toppin.