Shank, Esther Mae (1927-2007)

Mennonite Weekly Review obituary: 2007 Apr 16 p. 8

Birth date: 1927 Mar 23

text of obituary:

ESTHER MAE SHANK

Esther M. Shank, 80, of Calico Rock, Ark. died March 30, 2007, of cancer at Community Medical Center of Izard County. She was born March 23, 1927, to Charles and Crissie (Yoder) Shank in Orrville, Ohio.

The family moved to Goshen, Ind., in 1940. She became a member of College Mennonite Church, graduated from Goshen High School in 1945 and Goshen College in 1949.

She chose a celibate life of service, starting in a service unit at Richmond (Ind.) Mental Hospital. She received her Registered Dietitian degree after study and training at Western Reserve University and Cleveland Medical Center. She served as instructor and dietitian at Messiah College in Grantham, Pa., in hospitals at Elkhart and Goshen in Indiana, in La Junta, Colo., Santa Fe, N.M., and at Schowalter Villa Retirement Center at Hesston, Kan. Since 1983 she served at the Community Medical Center in Calico Rock, where she also lived her retirement and last days as the town’s esteemed “Miss Esther.”

She was active both as a pillar in Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship and in civic affairs. She was an avid gardener and member of the local Garden Club and of the town library committee. Her 80th birthday, just prior to her death, was for her a day of joyous celebration surrounded by her church family, former colleagues and many friends, who will miss her deeply.

Survivors include sisters Mary Lehman and her husband, Ernest, and Lois Musselman and her husband, Glenn, all of Goshen, and Mary Kay Felton Snider and her husband, Howard, of Parrish, Fla.; a brother, David A. Shank and his wife, Wilma, of Goshen; and a sister-in law, Anne Shank of Sarasota, Fla. She was a special “Aunt Esther” to her 19 nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by brothers John, Paul and Ernest, and sister Ruth.

A memorial service will be celebrated May 6 at Calico Rock Mennonite Fellowship. A Goshen-area memorial service will be held at “The Gathering Room” in Greencroft Evergreen Place.