Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Friday, May 12 at Murdock Funeral Home for Esther Burkhart Crellin, 101, formerly of Perry. Burial will follow at Violet Hill Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the funeral service at the funeral home.
Memorials may be made to Trinity Lutheran Church of Perry or St. Thomas Lutheran Church of Panora. Esther passed away Tuesday, May 9, 2017, at the New Homestead in Guthrie Center, Iowa.
Esther R. Randall was born Aug. 10, 1915, to Asa and Matilda (Albrecht) Randall on the family homestead near Sheridan Lake, Colo.
She graduated in South Dakota from Doland High School in 1932. She then attended college in Madison, S.D., and Kirksville, Mo.
She taught school in South Dakota, Missouri and Iowa.
Esther married Floyd O. Burkhart in 1937 and became a farm wife and mother.
She enjoyed her leisure time bowling, gardening, cooking and working crossword puzzles.
After 36 years of marriage, Floyd passed away Nov. 2, 1973.
Over the years, Esther worked as a secretary for the attorney office of Joy and Poffenberger, at the Brenton Bank of Perry and at the Murdock Funeral Home before she retired.
In 1981 Esther married Thomas A. Crellin in Perry. After 11 years of marriage, Tom passed away June 1, 1992.
Esther spent the past few years living near her daughter in Panora and the last three years at the New Homestead in Guthrie Center.
Survivors include her daughter, Donna (Don) Daniels of Panora; step-daughter, Norma Hornsby of Minburn; daughter-in-law, Cindy Burkhart of St. Paul, Neb.; grandchildren, Jeff (Jeri) Daniels of West Des Moines, Carol Daniels of Des Moines, Linda Daniels of Mountain Home, Idaho, Elizabeth Burkhart of Des Moines, Randall Burkhart of Perry, Patrick Burkhart of Des Moines, Timothy Burkhart of Des Moines and Sarah Burkhart of St. Paul, Neb.; step-grandchildren, Wanda Hornsby of Des Moines and Wendall Hornsby of Minburn; 15 great-grandchildren; and five great-great-grandsons.
Esther was preceded in death by her parents; two husbands; one son, Fred Burkhart; three sisters; and one brother.
