Florence Elizabeth Estey 1921 - 2010
STEVENS, ESCHBACH, ESTEY, GRUENWALD, BARKER, HENDRICKS
Posted By: N. Wagner (email)
Date: 4/18/2010 at 14:48:29
Elizabeth S. Estey, 89, died peacefully on Friday, April 9, 2010, at Stoney Brook Village, West Union, Iowa.
Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. today (Wednesday) at Episcopal Church of the Saviour in Clermont (on Hwy. 18).
A private family inurnment at the West Union Cemetery will be held at a later date.
Visitation was set for 4 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 13, at Bethel Presbyterian Church in West Union.
S.K. Rogers Funeral Home in Sumner is in charge of arrangements.
Florence Elizabeth (Stevens) Estey was born Jan. 12, 1921, in Minneapolis, Minn. She was the daughter of John Edson and Florence (Eschbach) Stevens.
Her family later moved to Marquette, Mich., where Elizabeth graduated from Graveraet High School in 1938.
Elizabeth graduated from the University of Iowa in 1942. After graduation, she worked at the U.S. Navy Pre-Flight School in Iowa City for three years.
In 1945, Elizabeth married Elbert S. "Slim" Estey in Muscatine.
At the end of the war, the couple moved to West Union, where Slim, an attorney, joined his father, E. H. Estey, and brother, Robert F. Estey, in their law practice.
Elizabeth lived in West Union for the rest of her life, except for a brief period during the Korean War when she joined her husband, Capt. Estey, at Air Force bases in Michigan and then Texas.
A member since 1942, Elizabeth was a third-generation P.E.O. member. She held all the offices in P.E.O., including serving as president of the local chapter for five different terms. She was also general chairman of the P.E.O. State Convention in 1979.
A lifelong member of the Episcopal Church, Elizabeth was a member most recently of the historic Episcopal Church of the Saviour in Clermont. She served that congregation as a regular lay reader and occasional church organist.
Elizabeth belonged to Wednesday Art Club for many years. A longtime member of Gourmet Club, she loved to cook and try new and unusual dishes. Playing bridge was a much-loved pastime.
Her volunteer work included the Red Cross blood drives and high school speech and music contests. She spent the 1980-81 school year as a mentor to four Laotian children, whose families were spending their first year in the United States.
In 1981 she also began working at the West Union library, retiring in 1992.
Elizabeth was preceded in death by her husband Elbert S. "Slim" Estey; an infant daughter, Ann Elizabeth; and her sister, Suzanne Gruenwald.
Survivors include son Steven Estey and his wife, Paula, of Eugene, Ore., and their children Elizabeth Barker, and Riccara, and Steve's son Jonathon by a previous marriage; daughter Kathryn Estey and her husband Tom Hendricks of Portland, Ore.; son Robert Estey of Reno, Nev.; her older brother, John Stevens of Muscatine; and many precious nieces and nephews.
Elizabeth's family has been overwhelmed with the outpouring of sympathy and love from those who have known her: a full picture of a gentle, gracious lady has unfolded as these friends and caretakers share their memories of her.
Memorials may be made in Elizabeth Estey's name to Church of the Saviour, P.O. Box 301, Clermont, IA 52135, or to West Union Community Library.
Fayette County Union - 14 April 2010
Fayette Obituaries maintained by Constance Diamond.
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