Obituaries

Esther Burkhart Crellin, 101, formerly of Perry, Iowa

Funeral services will be held at 11:00 a.m. Friday, May 12, 2017 at Murdock Funeral Home. 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, IA or St. Thomas Lutheran Church of Panora, IA. Esther passed away Tuesday, May 9, 2017 at The New Homestead in Guthrie Center, IA.

Esther R. Randall was born on August 10, 1915 to Asa and Matilda (Albrecht) Randall on the family homestead near Sheridan Lake, Colorado. She graduated in South Dakota from Doland High School in 1932. She then attended college in Madison, SD and Kirksville, Missouri. 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 cross word puzzles. After thirty six years of marriage, Floyd passed away on November 2, 1973. Over the years she worked as a secretary for the attorney office of Joy and Poffenberger, Brenton Bank of Perry and Murdock Funeral Home before she retired. In 1981 Esther married Thomas A. Crellin in Perry, Iowa. After eleven years of marriage, Tom passed away on June 1, 1992. The past few years she spent living near her daughter in Panora, IA and the last three years at The New Homestead in Guthrie Center.

Survivors include daughter Donna Daniels (Don) of Panora, IA, step-daughter Norma Hornsby of Minburn, IA; daughter-in-law Cindy Burkhart of St. Paul, NE; grandchildren Jeff Daniels (Jeri) of W. Des Moines, IA, Carol Daniels of Des Moines, IA, Linda Daniels of Mountain Home, ID, Elizabeth Burkhart of Des Moines, IA, Randall Burkhart of Perry, IA, Patrick Burkhart of Des Moines, IA, Timothy Burkhart of Des Moines, IA and Sarah Burkhart of St. Paul, NE. Step-grandchildren Wanda Hornsby of Des Moines, IA, Wendall Hornsby of Minburn, IA and fifteen 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.