As the fourth child of Clarence Michael and Eunice Minerva (Ward) Gantz, Esther was born in April 1921 on the Gantz homestead farm that her great grandfather had established in 1852 at Red Hill in the Clay District of Wood County, Virginia (now WV). She attended Winding Road School thru the sixth grade all the while helping to manage the family's dairy farm. She married her sweetheart, Elton Clare Edman, on November 7th, 1937 and became the mother of 7 children: Clare Daniel, Jerry Lee, Esther Eileen, Alice Elaine, Milton Ray, Shirley Diane, and June Ellen Edman (stillbirth). When Elton died in 1957, she found herself alone and unemployed with 4 young children to raise. She found employment with Kesterson Laundromats and Dry Cleaning to manage their East 7th Street facility in Parkersburg which she did for 27 years until she retired in 1984 to go live with her son and daughter-in-law in Dallas, Texas for health reasons. Her pride and joy in life were her children, grandchildren, and the Big Red Football teams of Parkersburg High School where some of her grandchildren played. She attended Red Hill Evangelical United Brethren Church as a youngster and Parkview United Methodist Church as an adult. Her goal in life was to see that all of her children were educated and had established lives on their own.
As the fourth child of Clarence Michael and Eunice Minerva (Ward) Gantz, Esther was born in April 1921 on the Gantz homestead farm that her great grandfather had established in 1852 at Red Hill in the Clay District of Wood County, Virginia (now WV). She attended Winding Road School thru the sixth grade all the while helping to manage the family's dairy farm. She married her sweetheart, Elton Clare Edman, on November 7th, 1937 and became the mother of 7 children: Clare Daniel, Jerry Lee, Esther Eileen, Alice Elaine, Milton Ray, Shirley Diane, and June Ellen Edman (stillbirth). When Elton died in 1957, she found herself alone and unemployed with 4 young children to raise. She found employment with Kesterson Laundromats and Dry Cleaning to manage their East 7th Street facility in Parkersburg which she did for 27 years until she retired in 1984 to go live with her son and daughter-in-law in Dallas, Texas for health reasons. Her pride and joy in life were her children, grandchildren, and the Big Red Football teams of Parkersburg High School where some of her grandchildren played. She attended Red Hill Evangelical United Brethren Church as a youngster and Parkview United Methodist Church as an adult. Her goal in life was to see that all of her children were educated and had established lives on their own.
Family Members
Siblings
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
Explore more
Sponsored by Ancestry
Advertisement
