ESTER ELIZABETH YONKER KIRKPATRICK was in the RHS Class of
1923. She was born March 5, 1905, in Sisterville, WV,
to Helen Catherine Cleary and Fritz Yonker. She married
Samuel Lawrence Kirkpatrick in Ranger in September of
1928. He came from Kentucky to work for Lone Star Gas.
They had two daughters: Jeanette "Cookie" Cason (RHS-1952),
who died in 2000, while living at League City, Texas, and
Mary Helen Short (RHS-1948) who died in 2012.
Ester's father, Fritz Yonker, was the superintendent of Lone
Star Gas until he retired. He brought his family to Ranger
from Bartlesville, OK, via New York and Pennsylvania.
The oldest of seven, Ester's siblings included Tom Yonker
(RHS-1929), Frederick Yonker (RHS-1930), Margaret Yonker
(RHS-1931), Mary Alice Yonker (RHS-1934), Jeanette Yonker
(RHS-1929) and Gene.
Ester was the consummate mother and wife of the 30's and 40's.
She worked for Lone Star Gas until just prior to her first
child's birth in 1932. An accomplished seamstress and a cook
extraordinaire and very socially adept, she hosted dinner
parties, teas, showers, wedding receptions, farewell parties
and special occasion celebrations that delighted all who
attended. Her two daughters were her great pride and delight
and she was active in the St. Rita's School PTA & the Catholic
Church's Women Altar Society. She was an avid reader and
bridge player, belonging to both types of social clubs.
Interestingly, she was an ERA activist and feminist long
before the words were coined.
Her two grandsons, Bob Short of Frisco, TX, and Glen Cason
of Edna, TX, have four daughters, Kaila Short, and Karin,
Monica and Georgann Cason who would have greatly delighted
Ester Kirkpatrick; however, she died just two days before
she would have been 54, on March 3, 1959, in Ranger and Mr.
Sam Kirkpatrick died on February 12, 1969, at Eagle Lake.
Both are buried in Ranger's Evergreen Cemetery.