Esther Nelson

She was born July 25, 1931 to Casimar and Sarah Prentki, the oldest of 6 children. At the age of 16 she started working at Gitzal’s Furniture, cleaned for neighbors and gave permanents to ladies in her neighborhood, when they first came out. At age 17 she added another job at Phoenix Hosiery. She then worked at A.C. Spark Plug for 10 years before leaving to raise her 6 children. She returned to work in 1977 at St. Luke’s Hospital as the Coffee Shop storeroom keeper. She learned many things in life and even thought about joining the Army, but then met the love of her life, Clifford. They married on May 22, 1954. Cliff preceded her in death on June 29, 1989. After retiring in 1997, she traveled when she could, loved cruising the Caribbean with family and friends. She enjoyed her summers at the bus, that her and Cliff built into a camper that slept 8, so they could travel the state with all the children, and since 1977 has been parked at Pearl Lake Campsite, until she could no longer go to be there on her own.  Esther attended Bay View High School, but left at 10th grade to go to work to help support the family.