Esther Jacobson

Esther Jacobson, age 93, of St. James, died on Tuesday, March 27, 2012 at Pleasant View Good Samaritan Center in St. James. Funeral services will be 2:30pm, Saturday, March 31, 2012, at First Lutheran Church in St. James with Rev. Ken Bowman officiating. Burial will be at Mt. Hope Cemetery in St. James. Visitation will be at the church on Saturday beginning at 1:00pm. Esther Louise Amanda Nibbe was born on the family farm in Cottonwood County on August 13, 1918, the eighth of nine children of William and Amanda (Jaster) Nibbe. She was baptized on September 8, 1918. She was a child of the Roaring Twenties and matured to adulthood during the Great Depression. She was confirmed in 1932 and graduated from Butterfield High School in 1937. She married Rudolph ("Pete") Jacobson in 1943 and they had three daughters, Mary, Kristine and Joan. Esther held a remarkable number of different jobs during her long life. As a young woman she worked as a maid, clothes model in a high-end dress shop, waitress and telephone operator. Her memory of the end of World War II was how all the lights on her switchboard lit up all at once. After the war, she worked as a fulltime housewife and mother. In the mid-Sixties she began working at St. James Greenhouse, where her favorite task was, as she put it, "digging in the dirt." Other jobs included the Watonwan County Library, a photography studio, the Red Owl deli, and babysitting. She also worked as a volunteer at VFW steak fries, for the United Transportation Union ("UTU"), the Food Shelf, Blood Mobile and the funeral committee at First Lutheran Church. She was also proud to be a regular blood donor. Her favorite pastime was reading and she passed along her love of books to both her daughters. She also enjoyed gardening and playing cards. Her favorite game was 500. She is survived by two daughters, Mary Evers (and her husband, Darald) of St. James, and Joan Jacobson (and her husband, Donald Rosenberry) of Lakewood, Colorado; four grandchildren, Mark Evers (and his wife, Jennifer) of Comfrey, Michelle Missling (and her husband Matt) of Madelia, Mindy Houck of Rochester, and Alex Rosenberry of Lakewood Colorado; and five great grand-children, Allyson, Trey and Adrianne Missling and Zoe and Cooper Evers. She is preceded in death by her parents, husband, daughter Kristine and eight brothers and sisters. Visitation 1:00 pm - 2:30 pm Saturday, March 31, 2012 Sturm Funeral Home, St. James 906 10th Ave. S. St. James, Minnesota, United States 56081 Service Information 2:30 pm Saturday, March 31, 2012 First Lutheran Church- St. James 719 6th Ave. S. St. James, Minnesota, United States 56081