Esther Sutera was born on December 20, 1929 in Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan, in Western Canada, the forth of five children of deceased Julius Adam and Emma Adam (nee Springer). She was sister to deceased sister Alma Kohls, Edna Schmidt, and John Adam in Canada, and Ida Pettyjohn in Valparaiso, Indiana.
Esther grew up on the family farm in Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan where she went to grammar and high school. Her early life consisted of hard work on the farm and walking miles each day chasing cattle and going to her country school. She received Christ along with her sisters in the Golden Prairie Baptist Church late in her teens. When her father retired from farming, the family moved to Medicine Hat, Alberta.
Esther moved to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan where she worked at the Star Phoenix News and attended the University Drive Alliance Church. It was there that she met her husband to be, Ralph, as he and his twin brother came to the church for extended evangelistic services. One year later on June 7, 1958 she and Ralph were married at Grace Baptist Church in Medicine Hat, Alberta, Canada.
Together Esther and Ralph lived in Minneapolis, Minnesota where their daughter, Colleen Joy was born. They moved to Berne and Fort Wayne, Indiana before residing in Mansfield, Ohio, and came to Lilburn, Georgia in December, 1996, before moving to Snellville, Georgia in 2013. In late September, 2018, Ralph and Esther moved into Delmar Gardens in Lawrenceville, Georgia where they presently reside. They have been members of Lilburn, Georgia First Baptist Church since the fall of 1997.
Esther is survived by her husband, Ralph, their daughter, Colleen Joy Jansma, two grandchildren, Joshua Michael Jansma, and Jillian Marie Terrell with her husband Andrew Robert Terrell, grandson through marriage, and Jeffrey Lee Jansma, father of their grandchildren, all from Snellville, Loganville and Lilburn, Georgia.
In lieu of flowers, the family has requested that memorial donations be made to Greater Atlanta Pathways, www.greateratlantapathways.org. This organization was very dear to Esther's heart because of the love that they have shown for her grandson.
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