A Beautiful Soul

A couple of days ago, we found out that our aunt, Esther Hein had passed away. She was 84 years old. Esther was the eldest of my husband, Bob’s grandmother’s children from her second marriage. I am so sorry to see her go. With her passing, all of Grandma’s children are gone. It is now left to the grandchildren to carry on the legacy Grandma started. Esther had lived much of her adult life in California and Oregon, choosing that milder climate over the harsh Montana winters. Because of where they lived, we didn’t see Esther’s family very often, but she did her best to come for visits to see her parents, Walt and Vina Hein, and siblings Marion Kanta, Walt Schulenberg, Eddie Hein, and Butch Hein and their families in Montana and Wyoming as often as she could manage.

It was on one of her trips to visit her parents, that I first met Esther. It was a good meeting for me, because when I married into the family, my husband Bob asked me to just cut his hair for him. Well, that was a really bad plan. I had never cut a guy’s hair, and it looked awful. His mother had to try to fix it. Ugh!! While we were visiting Grandma and Grandpa, Bob decided to ask Esther to cut his hair. She was trained to do that, so it was a good plan. Esther took pity on me, and she taught me how to cut Bob’s hair. It is a skill that has served me well over the last 50 years, and one for which I will always be thankful to Esther for…as will Bob.

Esther was as skilled seamstress and artist. I remember a set of bathroom curtains she made for my mother-in-law, (her sister-in-law) Joann Schulenberg. She loved them and in her later years, while I was taking care of her when she had Alzheimer’s Disease, she never forgot to tell me about the beautiful curtains that Esther had made for her. My mother-in-law loved Esther dearly. When they were first married, my mother-in-law and father-in-law, Walt Schulenberg often kept Esther at their house in town during the harsh Montana winters, so she wouldn’t miss school, because they couldn’t always get her to town from the ranch. Esther was almost like their own daughter, except that they were too young to have a daughter her age at the time. Esther never forgot how special they were to her, and when she started painting, she painted a landscape picture on a saw blade for her brother, Walt. He cherished it always. She also painted a set of TV trays for him, one of which I have now. Her work was beautiful. While she couldn’t come for visits anymore, she loved keeping in touch with the family, and spoke to my sister-in-law, Debbie Cook on a regular basis. They were very close. My sister-in-law, Brenda Schulenberg also kept her updated by printing out and mailing her many of the family stories from my blog. Esther loved reading all about the younger generation as they grew up. Esther was a beautiful soul, and we are going to miss her very much.