Estella Mason was born on a farm ten miles west of Renwick, Iowa, "out on the prairie," on August 28, 1894. Her father had to ride a horse 10 miles to get the doctor. There were no roads in those days, just trails. Estella was the oldest in the family of four children of Edgar and Clara Schoolcraft.

Estella attended country shool in Wright county, through the 8th grade. She then attended high school in Renwick, and graduated in 1913. The Schoolcraft family attended the Baptist Church, where Estella was baptized in 1912.

One Sunday, the family was invited to a neighbor's home for dinner. The hired man, Edward Mason, took a "shine" to Estella. Eight years later, on June 14, 1919, Estella became a beautiful June bride, in Goldfield, Iowa.

Their first home was at LaVerne, Iowa, where E. H., as Mr. Mason was called, owned a barber shop. After selling the shop, they moved to Charles City, where he worked at Oliver.

Estella had one daughter, who died in infancy, and three sons: Virgil, Verle and Edgar.

Mr. and Mrs. Mason celebrated their silver wedding anniversary with an open house at the Covenant Church in Charles City.

Estella worked at Dr. Salisbury's Laboratory in the media preparation room in Charles City. After retirement, she worked for two years as a parish worker, then traveled a great deal. She spent several winters in California and one winter in Oregon. She visited a cousin who was a missionary in Haiti, and friends in Florida and Hawaii.

She laughted as she recalled driving the car through Georgia, and running a red light, received the only traffic ticket in all the years she drove.

Estella moved to the Riceville Community Rest Home on September 5, 1975, and kept up on current events and activities in the home.

She passed away in July 1978.

[Based on a newspaper article dated Sept. 20, 1976, on file at the Riceville Public Library, and the Social Security Death Index.]