Funeral services for Esther Elizabeth (Horst) Hamburger, 103 year-old Weatherford, Oklahoma resident, will be held Monday, November 30, 2015, 2:00 P.M. at Zion Church with Gary Hamburger and Ron Thiessen officiating. Burial will follow in Greenwood Cemetery under the direction of Lockstone Funeral Home.

Esther was born December 29, 1911, in Butler, Oklahoma, to George and Sophia (Klein) Horst and passed away Tuesday, November 24, 2015 at Corn Heritage Village of Weatherford. Esther was the daughter of a western Oklahoma pioneer couple who emigrated from Russia near the turn of the twentieth century. They were Germans from Russia. They homesteaded on land near Butler having traveled by ox cart from Henrietta, Texas. She was fond of being named after two queens.

Esther survived all eight of her siblings, seven of who reached adulthood: Harold, Hulda, Milton, Henry, Robert, Frances, and Betty. Her brother Almon died in childhood. Life on a farm was rugged in those days, but wholesome. Esther remembers riding in the wagon the several miles to Butler to buy provisions. Her special treat was to have a can of sardines and crackers from the general store. There was likely a peppermint stick to go with it too.

Esthers father took the whole family to church services regularly, and was himself the Sunday School Superintendent for many years. She became a Christian at an early age. Later, she would teach Sunday school for many years at Zion Congregational Church. She even taught the college class, after the church was moved to town.

Her father, seeing the need to have his children receive an opportunity to go to college, sold the Butler farm and moved to a farm northwest of Weatherford, in time for Esther to attend Weatherford High School. She graduated in 1930, as an honor student, and enrolled in Southwestern Teachers College. She worked her way through college by housekeeping for Coach and Mrs. Milam. The SWOSU football stadium is named after this coach. She also tutored Coach Milam in German, since she was fluent in that language too. Esther finished college with a teachers certificate.

However, she never taught in a classroom because she met a good-looking eligible bachelor by the name of Dan Hamburger. They were married September 29, 1935, right in the middle of The Great Depression, and the dirty thirties. God blessed this marriage with five sons, Roland, Harlan, Dwayne, Milton, and Gary.

Dan and Esther farmed side by side until 1981, when Dan died. Esther continued to live on the farm until 2006, when she moved into Weatherford, after seventy-one years on the same farm.

Esther had seen many blessings and also heart aches in her time. In 1955, her oldest son, Roland was killed in a car accident on old Highway 66, near Bridgeport. Rolands good friend Cecil Short was also killed. Dan and Esther were broken from head to foot. Gary escaped injury. Esther recounted how her relatives, church and community rallied to help the family in this hard time. Among the many helps, she will never forget the many farmers coming with tractors and plows to till the soil for the next years crop.

Esther would credit her long life, first to the hand of the Lord, and secondly to lots of hard work. When others found their exercise at the Y, Esther would remark, I have a Y; it is spelled Y-A-R-D. She kept several acres of yard looking like a country club, and enjoyed it very much. She hauled many a wheel barrow load of manure and good soil up to the shale hill where the house had been built.

When the winter months made outside work less necessary, she would put a quilt in a frame to finish by spring. She crafted many quilts for her home and for her grandchildren too. She also learned how to make glazed and fired decorative and practical glass pieces.

But along with hard physical work, Esther always cultivated a good, alert mind. She could often be found reading something from her library. She liked to read the library books that her sons brought home for book reports. She memorized many Bible verses. A love of poetry was cultivated early in her life as well. She could quote English and German poems nearly word perfect. Moreover, she had many hymns committed to memory.

Esthers sons can attest to the fact that if they were ever in a program at school or church, she could come up with a handmade costume or whatever was needed. She had a seemingly endless supply of picture, material, and other items in her large attic.

Esther is survived by sons Harlan, Milton, and Gary; daughters-in-law, Susan and Mary Ellen; grandchildren, Lance Hamburger, Jennifer and Michael DeMotte, Carrie and Brennan Schmidt, Brian and Jessica Hamburger, Nathan Hamburger, Aaron and Christa Hamburger, David and Tiffany Hamburger, and Natalie and Deron Yevoli; and great-grandchildren, Alexis, Alyssa, and Amelia Hamburger, Quinten and Ali DeMotte, Braylie and Peyton Schmidt, Lander and baby girl due April 2016 Hamburger, Keiarra Hamburger, Annelise and Emma Hamburger, Wesley, Jack, and Lucas Hamburger, and Colin and Ethan Yevoli. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dan and two sons, Roland and Dwayne. Gods peace be to her memory.

The family would like to thank Brookdale Assisted Living and Corn Heritage Village of Weatherford for all their excellent and loving care. Memorials may be given to either of these care places, or to Zion Church of Weatherford.