"Dear Greg and family, Aunt Esther was an amazing woman. I always enjoyed listening to her and my grandpa tell stories about the ?old days?. You were very blessed to have her for a very long time. Our thoughts and prayers are with you all during this time and the many days ahead. Your Kansas Family. Crystal and Gary Samms. "
In loving memory of
Polly Esther Halpain
September 25, 1920 - August 31, 2018
Services to honor and celebrate the life of Polly Esther Halpain will be 10:00 a.m. Thursday, September 6, 2018 at Parkview Baptist Church in Duncan. Following, she will be laid to rest in Resthaven Memorial Gardens. Esther's family will receive friends for visitation from 6:00 - 8:00 p.m. Wednesday evening at Parkview Baptist Church. Esther passed away peacefully on Friday, August 31, 2018 at home. She was 97.
Born September 25, 1920 in Udall, Kansas, Esther was the seventh of eight children gifted to Thomas Dove Smith and Alice Agnes (Busch) Smith. Raised on the family farm in Kansas, Esther, along with her siblings and mother, were left to shoulder the responsibilities that accompany operating a farm upon the loss of Esther's father, when she was only three years of age.
By the age of four, while standing on a wooden box, Esther was tasked with providing the majority of the cooking for her entire family. Her mother would awake early to build a fire that by the time Esther needed to begin preparing meals for the day, the embers were just right.
Attending the Olive School, a one-room school house for grades first through eighth, Esther began to receive her education. She later attended Udall schools and eventually Winfield schools. It would be in Winfield, at the age of seventeen, that she met and married James "Jim" Hall. Together, the couple became the parents of five children: Betty Jean, Ronald, Carolyn "Sue", Randy and Greg.
While in school, Esther helped to provide for her family by cleaning houses. Once married and at the onset of World War II, she went to work at Sonner Manufacturing aiding in the war efforts. At the end of the war, she began to work at the Texaco gas station in Winfield and later at the Texaco station in Arkansas City. Dedicated to doing whatever it would take to ensure that her children had what they needed, there was nothing more important to Esther than her kids. This love and dedication would later grow to include her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren too.
Although Esther's marriage with Jim dissolved, she was fortunate enough to later find true love in Ted C. Halpain. Ted, a Texaco man, first saw Esther at the Texaco station in Ark City. He was immediately smitten and began courting Esther. Eventually, she too liked the idea and was equally in love with Ted. This couple married on August 6, 1965 in Ponca City, Oklahoma. They would make their home in Duncan where they were both members of Parkview Baptist Church and where Esther volunteered at Duncan Regional Hospital and with the Stephens County Election Board.
When she had spare time, one could almost always find Esther outside. She loved gardening, planting and tending to her flowers and mowing (which she did until she was 95 years old). She and Ted also enjoyed wood working together. In fact, the two made numerous dining tables and even built the kitchen cabinets at Parkview. Esther was an amazing cook and never used a recipe. Everyone had their favorite, but those that top the list would be: her fried chicken, corn fritters, biscuits, homemade noodles and German chocolate cake. Esther quilted and sewed - making most of her children's clothes through the years. Mostly, she was an amazing mother, grandmother and friend.
Esther leaves a legacy of hard work, longevity, selflessness and faith. Those who were touched by her life are enriched for having known her. She touched the lives of her family deeply and she will be deeply missed.
She is survived by: her children: daughter, Betty Jean Sutton of Duncan; son, Ronald Hall and wife, Phyllis of Lincoln, Nebraska; son, Randy Hall of Winfield, Kansas and son, Greg Hall and wife, Carla of Duncan; son-in-law, Oliver Ebbesson of Concordia, KS; and daughter-in-law, Bonnie Hall of Winfield, KS. She is also survived by 17 grandchildren along with numerous great-grandchildren, great-great grandchildren and a host of other relatives and friends.
She was preceded in death by: her husband, Ted Halpain; a daughter, Carolyn Sue Ebbesson; two step-children: John Bob and Patricia Halpain; two grandsons: Thaine and Dirk Sutton, as well as, her mother and father and all of her siblings.