Hester Sadie Hall

She told a story of going down with her sister to the Missouri river and she can remember how cold the water was and was baptized. She had a baptismal certificate too but it was not clear whether the baptism was into the Mormon or Hedrikite church. Her oldest sister was baptized in the LDS church, no other records exist of the other children.

Didn't have much of a childhood and was suspicious of anything that had to do with showing feelings.

When she was about 14 she woke up one morning and realized that she was extremely ill. Her mother called the public health people and they sent her to the PEST house, she had diphtheria. It was filled with people with horrible illnesses and on death's doorstep. She lost her hair but recovered. She said that never till her dying day would she forget that terrible and horrible experience. The PEST house was where the country club is on 27th south, where the gully goes down. It was on the outskirts of town. They wouldn't really treat anyone, if they got better they left or they died. That was all that they could do for them. After that they became a bit more civilized and they would quarantine by putting a notice on the front window and door of the house and no one could go in or out. (Ted has never heard that story)

They met at a dance, she was about 16 and he was 18, she liked to dance and he said that she had a real cute sense of humor. He said that she danced well. All of the young ladies wanted to dance with Theodore but he chose Hester. They later belonged to a dance group going out to dance every Saturday, they did that into their 70's. They were married when she was 18.

She was very good at managing money and was the one who took care of all of the accounts and really kept her wits about her when it came to finances.

While expecting Dean in 1919 there was a terrible worldwide Flu epidemic. It hit primarily younger people, young children and those in their twenties, the older people could withstand it somehow. She remembered being so stout and standing at the doorway to her home thinking that she couldn't bear it. The sister-in-laws would come by and cross over to the other side of the road because they didn't want to catch the flu or give it to her in her delicate condition. She says she never felt more alone in her life, she only saw people. They even canceled general conference that year, trying to do anything to save peoples lives. (in Shirley's family three Aunt's died, one left 7 children).

She was happily married though there was no outward show of affection. Shirley only saw Hester mad at her husband once. He was going to cut a tree down out back by the garage that shaded her kitchen window. And he started to cut it down and she yelled out and told him not to. Millie (the future Mrs. Wassmer) was there and egged him on , saying go ahead cut it down, so he did and Hester was really unhappy with him. They were never cross and never had harsh words. Hester was the dominant one and he just provided what he could. That was his role. Dean can never remember him even expressing an opinion. Whatever she said was the way they would go.

Aunt Leona (lived in Morgan) was Helen, grandma Wassmers' oldest sister, and was very much a part of the family. She would come down and visit and the kids would visit her. Aunt Eva was another Aunt that was close to the family, she was Pa's baby sister. Her husband was killed in WWI and so she moved in with them. She helped by paying about 2 dollars a week. She probably made about 8 dollars a week which were good wages for a salesgirl. She never had children and was very close to Ted and Vera. She had a big album with every newspaper clipping that had anything to do with Ted or anyone in the family. When her husband passed away it went to Ted. She died of leukemia within a year of Vera.

Nylons then were silk stockings. When you got a run in one you would take them down to the stores down town to some girl who had a little globes that they stretched over the globe and sewed up the run. They were 5 or 6 dollars a pair (or $1). One dollar was a days wage and the girls just couldn't afford to throw them away. Most girls only had one pair and would try to make them last. They came up with nylons and they were economical and longer lasting. During the war they were so hard to get. For dates The girls would buy makeup and put it on their legs and then a friend would draw a line up the back with eye liner to make it look like stockings seams.

At the house on Roosevelt there were only two bedrooms. The parents and baby slept in the one by the kitchen and the other was for the three girls, and the Aunt when she came to stay with them. They slept all in one bed. The boys would sleep in the little attic, or on the floor in the winter and in the summertime sleep out in the back under a canvas lean-to to get some cool air. They didn't feel like they were being picked on or felt like they suffered because everyone had the same situation.

Once in a while you would hear about someone who had their own automobile and your eyebrows would fly up, or someone who had enough money to go to college, you would look at them as if they were from another world. Public education was free except that you had to buy books. It was affordable enough that you could afford it. No matter how intelligent you were you couldn't go to college, there were no scholarships or financial aid. That is why they respected Aunt Judy so much because she had graduated from college. Her father was a lawyer and could afford to send all of his children to college. Very few people got to go. You were lucky if you could work and earn enough to go to high school, college was impossible. Working for a dollar a day for 7 days you would get 7 dollars and then have to pay for room and board and that would be about $3 and then your mother would ask for $3 and you would have $1 to court your girl and go to a movie.

Liberty Park was a great place to live near. The kids would go over in the morning and play all day and even way into the night without supervision.

A good measure of her personality was the number of friends that she had. She had many good friends. She was outgoing and easygoing. Hanna Carlson next door, Renee Bradley across the street, Ina Bradley and Hazel Heath, Ada Sears, Millie Forbush. When they sold their home and went out on 9th east Hanna said that was the saddest day of her life, she felt as if she had lost a true friend.

She liked to dress up. She would get all of the house work done quickly, get the bread baked and then put on her prettiest dress and go downtown. Sometimes she would go to Excelsious and get her hair done. Then she would spend the day just walking up and down Main street talking to people she knew. She told Shirley that she never came home that she didn't run into someone she knew. That was about the only recreation she had. The only thing she ever bought that was frivolous was a hat. She loved to have a hat to wear downtown. In those days people looked up to those who were nicely dressed. Clothes were bought that enhanced the body. (In great contrast to the 1990's when baggy and grunge are in)

She hated anything that was old. When she died there were blessing certificates, and an old family picture in the piano bench. Those were just about the only keepsakes that she had. When Dean went away to war he left all of his things and when he got back they were all gone Even antiques she didn't like. One of the things found in the box was a receipt for a courting buggy from Pa for $14, the family treasures it now. She wanted new things all the time, a new kitchen set or bedroom set. Even though the older was worth more she didn't care, she would sent it out to the dump and not even try to sell it. She had the grand piano that it now Ted's and would always put something beautiful on it. She had a paisley scarf that she would rumple up so there would be folds and then straighten out the fringe. On that she would put a big round glass bowl and it she could fresh flowers. It was the centerpiece of the room. She had a figurine of a little gypsy girl that she would put out too and a turquoise throw over the chair. She always had a picture up too. The pink cathedral by Ted or the Autumn scene, she would always move them around, but always leave the pink cathedral in the living room, she liked that. It is now part of a permanent exhibit.

There were 8 kids in her family. Her sister Annie had a nervous breakdown and was sent to an asylum. That what they did in those days.

She was a very private person. She rarely talked about her family. Once during the war her father came to visit out at the farm. He later went on to CA and was killed in an automobile accident.

When Dean and Shirley were married she gave them this advice, what ever you do always have enough money in the bank to pay house taxes. Shirley wanted to name their second daughter after Hester but Hester said, "don't you dare"-"you have a pretty name", "I never liked the name Hester and my second name Sadie is even worse". Shirley then asked her to pick a name and Hester said that she had always liked the name Patricia and so Patricia was named.

Shirley says that she was a beautiful lady, with beautiful hands and lovely legs without a bump on them. She was very aware of her hands and always took good care of them.

She was reserved and didn't show her emotions. The only time she ever kissed Dean was when he was at the train depot leaving for war and she thought that she wouldn't see him again.

She died of a stroke. Heart disease in family. She had had a stroke and had another and the dr. gave her morphine. She was allergic to morphine and died right away.