Esther Emilia Petschke

Esther Emilia Ernestine Schmidtke was born on May 11, 1921 in Wheaton, MN to Herman and Clara (Plath) Schmidtke. Following the death of her parents in 1928, she moved to Tenhassen Township, Martin County, MN, where she was raised by her cousins, August and Selma Rosenberg. Esther attended school district 109. On June 15, 1941 Esther was united in marriage to Ernest Petschke of Ceylon at St. John's United Church of Christ in Fairmont. They lived in Ceylon and later moved to a farm near Granada. She worked for the Fairmont Canning Factory. In 1974 she became a nurse's aide at the Fairmont Hospital and retired in 1985 to help many people. Esther was a member of St. John's United Church of Christ in Fairmont, a life member of the Fairmont Hospital Auxiliary and the Granada American Legion Post 319. Esther loved to cook and bake and then give the food away. Esther died on Friday, January 23, 2009 at the Fairmont Medical Center. Esther is survived by three sons and daughters-in-law, Bruce and his wife Marie of Petaluma, CA, Daryl and his wife Karen and Michael and his wife Leota all of Pine City, MN; twenty grandchildren; eleven great grandchildren; two great, great grandchildren; one sister-in-law, Alice Scheff of Trimont, MN; and many nieces, nephews and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Ernest; seven brothers, George, Edwin, Herman, Ewald, Walter, Waltemor and E.W. "Shorty? and three sisters, Elda Schmidtke, Henrietta Wegner and Lydia Larsen.