Esther Loomer, 100

Funeral services for Esther Loomer, 100, of Culbertson, will be at 2 p.m. Saturday, March 28, at Trinity Lutheran Church, 405 E. Montana 5, Culbertson, with Pastor Gretchen Wagner officiating. Interment will take place in Hillside Cemetery in Culbertson under the direction of Fulkerson Funeral Home of Sidney. 

The family suggests a memorial gift be given to the Glasgow High School Educational Trust, c/o Jeanine A. Markle, 904 Wedum Drive, Glasgow, MT 59230-1541, or to a charity of the donor’s choice. Remembrances, condolences and pictures may be shared with the family at www.fulkersons.com. 

Esther Emma Dumke Loomer was born just over 100 years ago on Feb. 1, 1915, on the family farm near Fergus Falls, Minnesota, to William and Henrietta Peterson Dumke. She joined two brothers and a sister and was later joined by another brother. She attended country school and graduated from Fergus Falls High School in 1933.

She was employed as a legal secretary.  

On Nov. 24, 1939, she married her high school sweetheart, Francis W. Loomer. It was the year that President Roosevelt moved the Thanksgiving date earlier in an attempt to bolster retail sales during the Great Depression. Esther and Francis were married for nearly 72 years. Born to this union were a son, Douglas, and a daughter, Jill. 

Their first home together was in Bowman, North Dakota, where Fran was teaching school and coaching. Early in their marriage, he once left her in a school gym until his team reminded him that his new wife had come along to the game. In 1946, they settled in Glasgow. They lived there until 2010 when they moved to Culbertson to be nearer their daughter, Jill. 

Esther taught Sunday school and held many offices in the Congregational church, including treasurer and chairman of the women’s group. She was a 50-year member of PEO and Order of the Eastern Star, of which she was Worthy Matron. She was a 4-H leader and a Cub Scout den mother.  

Esther enjoyed needlework, petit point, needlepoint, knitting and tatting. When Fran retired, they wintered in Mesa, Arizona, where she attended porcelain painting classes and created many beautiful pieces of her own design. She very much enjoyed reading, doing crossword puzzles and playing cards. She was an excellent cook and baked bread and other goodies on a regular basis. Esther was always a positive person and saw the bright side of life, being an inspiration to many.  

Esther died on Monday, March 23, 2015, at the Roosevelt Medical Center in Culbertson.

Esther is survived by her children, Douglas Loomer and Suzanne Ostrem of Bigfork and Las Cruces, New Mexico, and Jill Herness and Donald of Culbertson, MT; granddaughter, Lindsey, of Culbertson; and many nieces and nephews.  

She was preceded in death by her parents; brothers, Arthur, Carl and Henry; sister, Ethel; husband, Francis; and her granddaughter, Jami Marie Herness.