Criswell, Esther 1914-2001

CRISWELL, SELLE, SIMMONS, BEASON

Posted By: Marilyn Holmes
Date: 8/12/2014 at 19:50:23

The Grinnell (IA) Herald-Register
Jan. 15, 2001

ESTHER CRISWELL

Esther Criswell, 86, of Grinnell died Thursday, Jan. 11, at Grinnell Regional Medical Center.

Funeral services will be held at 10:30 a.m. Thursday, Jan. 18, at the Smith Funeral Home, with the Rev. Ken Wallace, pastor of the Newburg-Chester Congregational Church, officiating. Organist will be Margaret Wheeler. Pallbearers will be Peter and Terry Cline; Charlie and Nathan Criswell; Daniel, David, Dean and Donald Krumm; Mark Moriaty; and Justin White. Burial will be in Hazelwood Cemetery.

The daughter of Leonard William and Cora Lily Selle Simmons, she was born Jan. 16, 1914, on the family farm near the Oak Grove community. She attended rural schools.

She moved to Chicago in the early 1930s, and during World War II she was employed at Stewart Garner Defense Plant as a government inspector. In 1948, she began her career with Illinois Bell Telephone. She retired in 1969.

She was married to Shell Criswell, and the couple lived in Grinnell.

Surviving are two sisters, Ruth Simmons of Chicago and Dorothy Beason of Rogers, Ark.; one step-son, Don Criswell; two step-grandchildren; and two step-great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband; one brother, Bernard Simmons; and one sister, Edith.