Esther Williams Obituary – Xenia, OH | Fairborn Daily Herald

YELLOW SPRINGS — On May 7, 2019, eight days after celebrating her 94th birthday, Esther Pauline Williams passed away peacefully at Friends Care Community in Yellow Springs, Ohio. Esther will be sorely missed by family and friends, many of whom visited her regularly and/or sent cards and gifts. Born April 29, 1925 in Marysville, Ohio, Esther had a happy childhood in a city that knew no segregation and whose black community was small, sociable, and progressive. Her father James Glasco was a cobbler whose shoe repair shop did well even during the Depression. Esther’s mother, Beulah Ash, graduated Wilberforce University and worked as a home economist before marrying. In 1940, the family moved to Xenia, where Esther was soon joined by a baby brother Laurence, whom she cared for while her parents worked at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. Esther attended East High School and in 1943 enrolled in Wilberforce University, graduating in 1947 with a degree in Social Administration.

After a brief stint working at a state mental hospital in Philadelphia, Esther worked as a clerk at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base from 1947 to 1965. In 1952, she married Ellis Williams of Kentwood, Louisiana. The couple settled into a large, two-story house in Wilberforce. They had no children but raised a string of pets who were a bit like family. Ellis became postmaster at Wilberforce. In 1965, Esther left Wright-Patterson and enrolled in the education program at Central State University.

Article source: https://www.legacy.com/obituaries/fairborndailyherald/obituary.aspx?n=esther-pauline-williams&pid=192843504