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Esther H. Epperson, born Esther Henrietta Rooker in Chicago, on July 30, 1902, and a resident of Albuquerque since 1949, passed away peacefully on February 13, 2001, following a brief illness as a result of a fall in her home. She had remained healthy and active up until the last days of her 98-year-long life. She spent the last two weeks of her life in Colorado Springs, CO, in the loving care of her daughter, Lois and her son, Jon and family. She was a member of First Presbyterian Church in Albuquerque. Esther was the sixth of 12 children born to Harry Lavelle and Josephine Wilhelmina (Ohman) Rooker. She was their last surviving child. On April 28, 1923, she married the Reverend Mitchell Stokes Epperson, newly ordained Presbyterian Minister from the McCormick Theological Seminary. They served four churches together, San Angelo, TX, 1923-30; Alva, OK, 1930-38; Ada, OK, 1938-1949; and Albuquerque, NM, coming to pastor the Northminster Presbyterian Church on Indian School Road in 1949. Her husband, Mitchell, died March 16, 1960, in Albuquerque. Esther was preceded in death by her son, Dean Alden on January 11, 1998 in Oslo, Norway. She is survived by three children, James Douglas of Dortmund, Germany, Lois Shetler of Vienna, Austria, and Jon O. of Larkspur, CO; and six grandchildren, Mario Epperson of Dortmund, Germany, Thomas M. Russell and Katherine Russell Babic of Albuquerque, Mark and Elaine of Colorado, and Norman D. Shetler of Vienna, Austria. Esther will be remembered as a dedicated Christian helpmate to her husband,"Epp" and a happy and loving mother and grandmother. Esther was a strong and determined woman who remained healthy, with a bone-breaking handshake, up to the last. Very much a sports fan, she liked the Dallas Cowboys and was a life-long Chicago Cubs fan. A memorial service will be conducted at First Presbyterian Church, Albuquerque, in June. Memorial contributions may be made to the Mitchell S. Epperson memorial scholarship fund at the University of the Ozarks, Clarksville, Arkansas 72830.
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