MOUNT MORRIS – Esther Louise Schier passed peacefully in her sleep on Wednesday, Dec. 13, 2017 at Pinecrest Manor in Mount Morris. She was born on Dec. 1,1917, the oldest daughter of Helen and Henry Friday, and had celebrated her 100th birthday just 12 days before her death.
As a young girl, she walked over a mile each way to the one-room schoolhouse in Chana. She felt fortunate to be able to attend Rochelle High School for one year before having to quit to help her ailing mother. Later, as a farmer's wife herself, she worked hard to cook three hearty meals a day for family and any visiting friends and farm hands. Esther was a woman who loved conversations over coffee with friends and with Pine Creek Women's Club. She worked hard her whole life. She held jobs at Pinecrest, the Bowling Alley and as a printer at Woods. Even after retiring from this last full-time job in 1985, she worked several more years part-time at the Donut Shoppe in Dixon. In her later years, she enjoyed baking, tending her flower garden, and embroidering dish towels. She even tried her hand at painting and ceramics. As a long-time member of Ebenezer Reformed Church, she participated in a weekly bible study for several years and donated her time and many a jello salad, angel food cake, peanut brittle, or plate of divinity for various church functions. She and her daughter shared a love of flowers and baking. Extended family still mention her apple squares and sugar cookies. Esther's grandchildren were the delight of her life and always requested her Christmas sugar cane cookies, even for summer birthdays.
She was predeceased, to her great sorrow, by almost all of her friends, her son Larry Schier and her brothers Carl and Gertis and her sisters Erma, Irene and Harriet.
Survivors include her sister Nancy Gould of Elkhorn, Wis., daughter Joyce (Dennis) Berg of Dixon, and daughter-in-law Darcie Schier of Mount Morris; her grandchildren: Marcia Hansen, Michael Hansen, Steven Berg, Dwayne (Michelle) Schier, Eric (Emily) Schier, Lori (Norman) Steele, Cindy Rowland and Amber (Ray) Kosick and several great grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
Funeral services were held at Ebenezer Reformed Church in Oregon, on Tuesday, Dec. 19, 2017 at 11 a.m., with visitation preceding the service at 10 a.m.. Burial in Trinity Memory Gardens, Rochelle. Memorials may be directed to Pinecrest Manor or Serenity Hospice. Farrell-Holland-Gale Funeral Home, Oregon is assisting the family with arrangements.
