Celebrant Pam Meily Vetter


	Celebrating Life Everyone Has A Story...

Esther Mary (Henry) Jarvis was born to Mary and Louis Henry in Capac, Michigan, in 1928. Her German parents were from Russia. They went through Ellis Island and moved to the United States when they were young. Esther was raised on the family farm with her brother, Edward, and her sister, Mary. With ten years between Esther and her brother, she was like a second mother to him. They were a very close family. Her father was a farmer and everyone helped on the farm with responsibilities for gardening and caring for the cows, horses, and chickens. Esther attended a one-room schoolhouse from kindergarten to 12th grade. She graduated from high school and went on to take college classes in accounting and shorthand at Mt. Clemens. She quickly gained work as a bookkeeper in payroll at a local department store.

In 1948, Esther married James Jarvis who later served in the Air Force. Much of their married life involved travel, as James was active duty military. The couple had three daughters: Diana, Patty and Jeanie. The children were raised Lutheran and were baptized within two weeks of their births as it was important to Esther. Each of the girls also went through catechism classes. Esther always enjoyed attending Easter church services with her family. Diana and Jeanie had similar interests to Esther, while Patty shared more of her father's interests. The family moved quite often with Jim's work, relocating every few years. Always on the move, Esther was ready and prepared to travel with the kids. She worked off and on at different times, as the family was moving so much. The family even lived overseas moving to Japan, France and Germany. They moved back to the United States in 1962 and Jim retired from the Air Force in 1966. Esther didn't settle down in pursuing her dreams or activities. She even carried a gun and a holster and shot a rattlesnake outside their home in the desert in 1974. She dabbled in everything over the years from reading and painting to crocheting.

Esther was a good mother who was very supportive of all of her daughters. With a love of animals, their first family dog was named Myrtle. Throughout the years, Esther gave her daughters a love of holidays as she decorated for Easter, Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas. A patriotic American, Esther put her flag out in front of her home every day. She enjoyed patriotic activities and she loved the 4th of July. She was so grateful to be a first generation American, who lived through World War II and the Korean War. Her family was the most important thing in her life and one of her proudest moments came in watching all of her daughters graduate from high school and college.

After her divorce, an entirely new life began for Esther and everything was a new adventure. She lived with Patty for a while and then moved to Washington D.C. to be with Diana. With Patrick's help, she earned a job at the Pentagon for the Department of Defense where she worked for two years. She was so very proud of her work at the Pentagon saying, "I lived a dream. Now, I got to work at the Pentagon." In 1987 she returned to Southern California, where she worked for the military for twelve years and that included ten years working at the Navy Hospital. She retired at the age of 68.

Known as "Oma," which is German for grandma, Esther loved having five grandchildren and eleven great-grandchildren. She was present for many of the births of her grandchildren. She liked reading books with the kids, playing board games and cards with them. She wanted to know everything about her grandchildren and she asked them many questions about their lives. She also crocheted scarves, hats and slippers for the grandkids. Esther took her first-born granddaughter, Lynn, to take her drivers test in a brand new van. Lynn passed that test and earned her drivers license. Esther had a wonderful relationship with all her grandchildren and great-grandchildren and she would do anything for her kids. She also helped her daughters when they traveled by watching their dogs or their cats.

A life-long learner, Esther embraced learning new skills along the way. She learned computers and had her own e-mail account. In fact, she was on her third personal computer and was very savvy about e-mailing her friends around the world. She had a great interest in Genealogy, as she was the family historian writing and saving stories throughout the decades. She even took classes at the Senior Center in Norwalk, learning how to write and organize her life story. The result of her 30-year investment into the life story project were hundreds of pages of written stories along with hundreds of organized photographs. Each story was typed on archival paper, so generations could enjoy reading it for years to come. She entitled her book, "My Life Story" by Esther Mary Henry Jarvis.

With many favorites in life, Esther's favorite color was blue. She especially loved her cars. The first car she paid for in cash was after her divorce. It was a beautiful silver Mercury Cougar. She always had to have an 8-cylinder car with a dual exhaust. After someone hit her car in an accident, she replaced it with a new bronze Mercury Sable with leather interior. She always wanted a car with power. An avid reader, she loved to read historical fiction and mysteries. Her favorite authors were Janet Evanovich and Danielle Steele. She traded books with Diana, Jeanie and her granddaughter Lynn. Esther also loved Sudoku puzzles and she exchanged Sudoku books with Patty, who shared her love of math puzzles. Buying so many books over the years, she collected quite a library of books.

Esther enjoyed going to the movies with her family or by herself, as she liked watching family friendly movies. She loved needlework and crocheting as she had many hobbies. With a love of music, she enjoyed listening to German music, Elvis Presley, rock and roll, Glenn Miller, Big Band music, Louis Armstrong, and she loved to sing along to country songs. Her favorite foods were seafood and Chinese food. She was a great cook and she made the best potato salad with a secret family recipe. Everybody always asked her to make her special potato salad for family gatherings. She liked drinking coffee when she was younger and she liked a good Pilsener or good German Beer now and then. Once in a while she even had Jack Daniels with Diet Coke. Her favorite pastime was playing Bingo on Thursdays and Sundays every week and she loved living in Leisure World after she retired. She even became the Building Captain for her building in Leisure World.

As a lady who loved gardening, her favorite flower was the beautiful hydrangea. She really loved all flowers. She collected teapots, spoons and elephants of all kinds. As a painter, she painted pictures of her travels and her loves, she even painted a large bull elephant. Recently, one of her great-grandchildren, Colby Jr., imitated one of her oil paintings of flowers showing that artistic talents run in the family.

There were many trips over the years. There was a memorable vacation to Montana and Glacier Park along the Canadian border and a special trip to the Grand Canyon with Patty and Diana. Esther, Diana and Patty also spent two weeks in Germany in 1998. Diana joined Esther on a tour of Graceland, Elvis Presley's home, and they loved it.

Over the years, Esther lived in Europe, on both coasts of the US including many states in between. Her passport was good until 2018 and she was always ready to go. She loved to fly, but didn't like boats so much. Esther was a breast cancer survivor at the age of 72, even going through radiation and pill chemotherapy. With a patriotic heart, she was very upset when the Pentagon was attacked on 9/11. It was an important place where she used to work and her focus was always on people.

Esther enjoyed telling stories and loved the humor in life. She was also a wonderful listener for her family and friends. Her family will remember her German phrases and she always called Jeanie "My baby" and referred to her daughters as "My girls." Her purpose in life was to have a wonderful family and she fulfilled that purpose beautifully.

Family was always a priority in Esther's life. She kept her siblings and parents in touch with each other over the decades. She did the same with her daughters. Even when Diana married a man in the military and traveled, Jeanie married and moved to Colorado, and Patty lived in Arizona for a while, Esther always made the effort to pick up the phone and talk to them or she traveled to see them. Her daughters were always there for her when she needed them the most and she was always there to support them in return. When Patty moved back to Southern California, she relied on Patty in so many ways. Diana and Jeanie were only a phone call, a flight or a drive away. Esther really and truly became friends with all of her daughters, each with their own unique relationship.

A month before she passed, Esther moved her furniture around her home because she liked everything seeming new once in a while. In many ways, Esther was preparing her family for her passing, as she was an organizer, showing Patty where everything was in her home. Esther was active until the end as her mind was sharp. She was still talking and in the days before she passed, everyone who wanted or needed to talk to her did and they told her, "I love you." She also told everyone in return, "I love you, too."

The family will miss Esther's presence, her fluent German, her phone calls, and her steady stream of e-mails. She was always the great communicator in the family. Jeanie will especially miss those 10 am hour-long Sunday phone calls before her mother went to play Bingo. Patty will miss hearing her mother's voice and being there for her. Diana will miss her mother's ability to help her adjust to life's ups and downs. For Jeanie's husband, Thomas, Esther, was like a second mother to him and she will be greatly missed.

Esther Jarvis led by example. She will best be remembered as a woman of strength and a German through and through as she always made life work. She took an active role in leaving her own life story behind in the form of her memoir, which included the time in her life when she came into her own self and came alive after her divorce. She loved girls' weekends, slumber parties and time spent with her family and friends. She made friends wherever she went. She ended up happy in the end, as she was an independent lady who took initiative and lived life. Esther's advice to everyone would be to live life your way. Esther will be laid to rest with loving family memorabilia and a pillow made by Jeanie that says, "Everyone wishes for a Mother like you."

Esther is loved and remembered by her daughter Diana and son-in-law Patrick; daughter Patty and son-in-law Cliff; daughter Jeanie and son-in-law Thomas; 5 grandchildren Lynn, Cathy, Colby, Curtis, and Gregory; 11 great-grandchildren John, Lee, Brendan, Jacqueline, Colby Jr., Skylar, Aleah, Reagan, Jack, McKenna, and Brody; brother Edward and sister-in-law Alice; sister Mary; extended family and friends around the world.

Memorial donations are welcome in Esther Jarvis' name to Susan G. Komen for the Cure of Breast Cancer www.komen.org, Disabled American Veterans www.dav.org, or Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) www.vfw.org.

Esther's Potato Salad Recipe:

5lbs potatoes-boiled, peeled and cut in to 1 inch pieces
Dill pickles (1-1 1/2) cups-drained and cut in to 1/2 in pieces
1 Dozen eggs-boiled, cut in to 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup radishes-sliced
1-2 cups of celery-cut in to 1/4 inch slices
1/2 to 1 onion-chopped (optional)
green pepper for garnish
paprika
salt and pepper
1-2 cups mayonaise
2-4 tsp mustard

Boil potatoes until fork tender, peel and put in a large bowl
Boil eggs to hard boil, cool and slice/chop
Wash slice, and drain celery, radishes, onion
Drain and slice pickles
Mix mayonaise, mustard, salt and pepper
Mix all ingreidents in large bowl with potatoes
Decorate top of salad with paprika and green peppers

All ingredients are whatever amounts please you and your family.
Amounts are approximate as she did not measure while making. Enjoy!