Esther Jane Ward

September 3, 1918 – January 19, 2022

Esther Jane Ward was born in 1918, the year of the great Spanish Flu epidemic, lived for 103 years, and passed away in 2022, during the world-wide Covid epidemic.

Her parents, Lewis and Lula Welch, lost their first child, Claud, after only three weeks in early 1917. Esther was born in Port-land, in 1918, followed by her sister Mary Irene in 1922.

Esther grew up in Oregon with her fondest childhood memories being her time in Tillamook where she attended high school. For the rest of her life she loved spending time in Tillamook and along the Oregon coast. One of her most significant memories was “The Tillamook Burn”, a huge forest fire that started in August of 1933, when she was 14.

Raised by Christian parents, her faith in God was the foundation for her life. She practiced a daily routine of devotional reading of the Bible and prayer. For most of her life she attended church services at least three times a week.

She left home in 1937, at the age of 18, to work in Portland and attended Cascade College, where she earned a diploma for their Bible Institute Course. It was here that she met Darrel Larkin. They married in 1939, and she spent the next decade as a pastor’s wife in Oregon, Arizona, and Texas, and as a missionary in Peru. They had two sons during their marriage; David and Daniel.

When the marriage ended in 1951, she and her two sons moved back to Sweet Home, Oregon, and then to Salem for a year. On Christmas Day of 1954, Esther married Butler Ward, who lived in Sweet Home. There they raised David, Daniel and Patsy from Butler’s first marriage. Esther and Butler lived in Sweet Home until moving to Salem in the early 1960s.

Extended family and friends were very important to her and she always looked forward to visiting her grandchildren. She kept in touch with all of her relatives, wherever they lived. Her favorite hobby was making quilts which she gave to all of the new babies in the extended family or to other friends.

After Butler retired, they continued to live in Salem. She and Butler moved into a mobile home in Salem but made numerous long distance trips to visit friends and relatives all over the United States.

After Butler died in 2009, Esther moved into an independent senior living apartment, where she no longer had to cook. The facility provided weekly country drives which became her favorite activity.

Esther was amazingly hardy and continued to drive her car until she was 95. Eventually she had to use a walker, but continued to be able to get around on her own until she was 102. To celebrate her 90th birthday she went on a cruise ship to Alaska, and after that, still traveled alone on the Amtrak train from Salem to Pasco, Washington to visit relatives in Spokane.

In 2018, after a large family celebration of her 100th birthday, Esther moved into assisted living and then in 2021 to memory care, five months before passing away in early 2022.

A graveside service for Esther will be held Friday, January 28, 2022 at 2:00 PM at City View Cemetery, 390 Hoyt St S, Salem, OR 97302.