Kauffman, Esther Borntrager (1920-2006)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2006 Apr 17 p. 11

Birth date: 1920 Feb 13

text of obituary:

ESTHER KAUFFMAN

Esther Kauffman died Feb. 12, 2006, at Brendan House in Kalispell, Mont. She was born Feb. 13, 1920, to Glen Joseph and Cora May (Chupp) Borntrager in rural Dawson County near Bloomfield.

She was baptized upon confession of faith at Red Top Mennonite Church in 1933, and on Nov. 8, 1946, was received into membership at Mountain View Mennonite Church, Creston, where she remained a lifelong member.

She was a 1940 graduate of Dawson County High School. As a young woman she lived a year in Oregon, where she worked at various jobs, mainly as a housekeeper or maid.

On May 31, 1943, she married Paul S. Kauffman at Red Top Mennonite Church, Bloomfield. They lived in the Bloomfield area, and in Glendive, in the first years of their marriage, where she worked variously in a laundry and taught school for most of a year.

In 1946 she moved to Creston with her husband. As the mother of seven children her life was full of homemaking, and her assistance as go-getter, bookkeeper and general helper in both logging and farming were indispensable.

Her sweet Christian spirit, her depth of spirituality and her commitment to Christ were appreciated. She was a good musician. The alto section in church choral groups leaned on her accuracy, and for a number of years she enjoyed singing in the Sweet Adelines.

Survivors include her husband, Paul S. Kauffman; three sons, Daniel D. Kauffman and his wife, Debbie, Kenneth G. Kauffman and his wife, Frieda, and Stephen G. Kauffman and his wife, Ginger, all of Kalispell; three daughters, E. Elaine Kauffman of Mountain Lake, Minn., Brenda M. Younger and her husband, Steven, of Stratton, Colo., and Alice L. Arneson and her husband, Richard, of Bothell, Wash.; a brother, Mahlon Borntrager of Glendive; two sisters-in-law, Effie Borntrager of Glendive and Violetta Borntrager of Mobile, Ala.; 14 grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.

She was preceded in death by three daughters, Eileen, Arlene and Rebecca Ann; two sisters, Lillie Greiman and Lena Boese; and three brothers, Floyd Borntrager, Elmer Borntrager and Oscar Borntrager.