Griffith, Esther Barbara (Egli) 1916 – 2002

GRIFFITH, EGLI, LANE, MAXFIELD, HOPKINS, TITUS, POWELL

Posted By: Joy Moore (email)
Date: 5/19/2024 at 21:00:38

Source: Times Plain Dealer; Dec. 11, 2002 Page A-3
from Elma library collection assembled by Marian (Marr) McGee
Transcribed by Joy Moore

Services held for Esther Griffith, 86, on December 7
Funeral services for Esther Griffith of Decorah were held at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, December 7 at the United Methodist Church in Decorah with Rev. Carol Kress officiating. Interment was in Aspen Grove Cemetery, Burlington. Schluter-Balik Funeral Home handled the arrangements.
Esther, 86, died Sunday, December 1, 2002 at the Winneshiek County Memorial Hospital following a short illness.
Esther Barbara Griffith was born April 10, 1916 on the family farm near Trenton, the daughter of Jona and Elsie (Lane) Egli. She attended Star School, a rural elementary school near Mount Pleasant. She was the first girl from her community to attend high school in Mount Pleasant, graduating in 1932. She attended Iowa Weselyn College in Mount Pleasant for two years .
On February 28, 1935 she married Wesley W. Griffith at the home of the District Superintendent of the Methodist Church in Mount Pleasant. They lived in Oakville.
They lived in different locations including Little Rock, AR, Brownsville, TX, New York City, NY, St. Louis, MO, and Overland Park, KS. While in St. Louis, Esther completed her education at Washington University, graduating with a degree in elementary education. While in Overland Park, she taught seventh and eighth grade Unified Studies at Shawnee Mission for 10 years.
In July 2001 she moved to Decorah to be near her daughter.
She enjoyed rock collecting and flower and vegetable gardening. She also enjoyed music, reading, sewing, and her cat Freddie.
She is survived by one daughter: Dana Maxfield of Dorchester; two sons: Gary of Noblesville, IN and Jonathan of New York City, NY and Portland, OR; nine grandchil-dren; 16 great-grandchildren; and one sister: Lois Titus of Ventura, CA.
Esther was preceded in death by her husband Wesley in March 1977; one daughter: LaVonne Bonnie Hopkins; her parents; one brother: Edwin; and one sister: Dorothy Powell.