Obit: Perkins, Esther (1903 - 2010)

Contact: Dolores Mohr Kenyon

Email: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 
 

Surnames: Perkins, Carpenter, Dosch, Boode, Cooper, Elliot, Bradbury, Knudson, Evans, Peach 
 

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI.) January 27, 2010 
 

Perkins, Esther (4 June 1903 - 20 January 2010) 
 

Esther Perkins, 106, of Richland Center, and formerly of Neillsville, died Wednesday, Jan. 20, 2010, at Schmitt Woodland Hills. 
 

She was born June 4, 1903, in the Township of Rockbridge, the daughter of Fred and Elma (Carpenter) Dosch.  Following graduation from Richland Center High School in 1920, she attended Richland County Normal School and received additional training at Platteville Normal School.  She then taught at several rural Richland County schools. 
 

She was united in marriage with John Perkins, May 18, 1928, in Madison.  They lived in Madison for the next year while John completed his degree at the University of Wisconsin.  In June 1929, they moved to Neillsville, when John became the agriculture instructor in the high school.  While in Neillsville, Esther taught elementary students and became the full-time children’s librarian in the city public library in 1960.  In 1970 she retired from the library, and she and her husband spent the next fourteen winters in Zephyrhills, FL, where some of their family still enjoys winter months. Esther was an avid golfer even up into her 80s.  She also enjoyed crafts and bridge.  In October 1993, the couple moved to Richland Center and took an apartment at Schmitt Woodland Hills Retirement Community. 
 

Esther is survived by two sisters, Louise Boode of Beaver Dam and Carolyn Cooper of Washington State; her brother, Howard Dosch of California; and nieces, nephews and friends. 
 

Esther was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, John, Feb. 6, 2003; four sisters, Beulah Elliot, Bertha Bradbury, Nellie Knudson and Ruth Evans; and brothers, Paul, Peter, Fred and Perry Dosch. 
 

Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 24, 2010, at the Pratt Memorial Chapel with visitation from noon until the time of service.  Pastor Craig Peach officiated and burial was in the Richland Center Cemetery. 
 

The Pratt Funeral Service assisted the family with the arrangements. 
 

Online condolences are available at www.prattfuneralservice.com