Nancy L. Ester, 93, died Feb. 14, 2006, at Hester Care Center, Wesley Towers.

She was born March 27, 1912, in Marshfield, Mo., the daughter of the Rev. George Frederick and Gertrude E. Mansfield Gilbert. She was a 1929 graduate of Mountain Grove High School in Missouri, 1932 graduate of Missouri State with a B.S. in education and in 1967 received her Master's Degree in Christian Education from Scarritt College, Nashville, Tenn. A resident of Hutchinson for the past 15 years, she taught music and English in public schools in Missouri and Kansas for eight years, and had served as Director of Christian Education for United Methodist Churches in Kansas and Missouri, and retired in 1977 from the staff of First United Methodist in Bartlesville, Okla.

She belonged to Trinity United Methodist Church, where she was active in the United Methodist Women and Church Women United. She was a member of the Association of Directors of Christian Education, Christian Educators Fellowship, American Association of University Women and their Cultural Arts and Book Club, Hutchinson branch. She was a M.A. Scarritt College for Christian Workers Certified Director of Christian Education for United Methodist Churches and a Consecrated Lay Worker, Oklahoma Conference of the United Methodist Church.

On June 22, 1938, she married the Rev. Delbert W. Ester in Creighton, Mo. He died April 19, 1955.

Survivors include: a son, Gilbert W. "Bill" Ester and wife, Carolyn, Kechi; a daughter, Janet L. Nelson, Courtland; a sister, Gertrude M. Bechtold and husband, Clarence, Springfield, Mo.; four grandchildren, Brooke Teer and husband, Jeff, Newton, Blake Ester and wife, Angie, Wichita, Jacob Nelson, Chicago, and Sarah Smith, Omaha, Neb.; two great-grandchildren, Rylee and Scarlett Smith, Omaha, Neb.; and seven nieces and a nephew.

She was preceded in death by a sister, Eleanor J. Anderson.

Memorial service will be at 2 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2006, at Wesley Towers Chapel, Hutchinson, with the Revs. Nick Warner and Bob Brooks presiding. Family graveside services will be in White Chapel Gardens, Springfield, Mo. Visitation will be from noon to 9 p.m. Thursday at Elliott Mortuary, Hutchinson.

Memorials, in lieu of flowers, may be sent to the Good Samaritan Fund at Wesley Towers or to the Pass the Torch Scholarship Fund, both in care of the funeral home. Personal condolences may be sent to www.elliottmortuary.com.