MY LADY ESTHER

ESTHER GALLERY

Esther lived her teens in Montclair, NJ; husband John lived his in Springfield, MO, later in Tulsa, OK. But they listened to the same radio programs. One was "The Lady Esther Hour", advertising cosmetics, principally "Lady Esther Powder". John used to tease her as "Lady Esther".
BIOGRAPHY

Esther Odell Hays was born in Philadelphia on September 12, 1920. She was the youngest of four children born to Dr. Edward A. Odell and Irene Diehl Odell, serving as Presbyterian missionaries in the West Indies. (Her mother was a fine pianist and organist and created a hymnal for the English Church in Havana.) Esther spent her first five years in Havana, Cuba, after which the family moved to Montclair, New Jersey.

When Esther was eleven and a half months old (and teething, a difficult time for babies), she was stricken with polio, leaving her left leg paralyzed. Esther had many corrective operations in childhood and in her teens. (Later, a letter about this was published in The Congressional Record of the Congress of The United States.) Her orthpedist from childhood ro her 30's was Dr. Mather Cleveland, legendary today.

Esther graduated from New Jersey College for Women (renamed Douglass College) of Rutgers University, in 1942, with a B.A. in French, minoring in Spanish and Music. At NJC, Esther toured with the college choir. In her junior and senior years, Esther was student manager of the French House, occupied by French majors.

After graduation, Esther returned to Cuba, working in a School founded by her father. Later, in New York City, Esther was Editor of publications for World Literacy and Christian Literature, founded by world-famous literacy expert, Dr. Frank Laubach.

In the Literacy Office, Esther met John Hays and they were married in 1948. Their first son, Timothy, was born in 1954 in New York City, and their second son, Christopher, was born in 1957, in Mayagüez, Puerto Rico.

In 1955 the family moved to San Germán, Puerto Rico, where Esther taught High School English, Spanish, French, and Latin at the pilot school on the campus of Inter American University, and where John was Head and Associate Professor of the Department of Mathematics. (During this period, Esther served a unique role.)

In 1967 the family moved to Orono, Maine. In the University of Maine at Orono, John taught mathematics, while Esther began and completed graduate work in Comparative Literature, in English, Spanish and French. Her Master's Thesis compared Gil Blas and Lazarillo De Tormes as examples of picaresque novels.

In 1971 Esther was awarded First Prize in a National Literary Contest conducted by Sigma Delta Pi, The National Spanish Honor Society, for her essay, "Vista de Toledo por Lazarillo de Tormes".

In 1972 the family moved to Virginia where Esther served as Assistant Editor for Symphony News, monthly newsletter of The American Symphony Orchestra League. In 1975, an official of the U. S. State Department asked about statistics of women in symphony orchestras. Esther prepared such a report, published by the State Department in 1976 and in the Symphony News and a report about it appeared in the Washington Post.

This publicized the low percentage of women players, conductors, managers in the American major symphony orchestra and later contributed to increased hiring of women in symphony orchestras of all categories. But the immediate effect was that Esther's job was abolished, sending her into unemployment. This was reported to the Washington Post reporter who had covered this subject, but the Post did not see fit to report Esther's problem.

Employed a few months later by The National Park Service, Esther worked in Contracts and wrote a massive summary of contracts of private companies in all U. S. Parks. Later, in the Equal Opportunity Office, Esther created their first demographic database, resulting in the hiring of more women and minorities. Here, Esther voluntarily attended classes in signing, mastering enough so that she could redirect deaf visitors she met in the corridors.

In 1993 she retired from the National Park Service but continued her many interests. For three years, until limitations prevented her, Esther tutored a girl from Central America at a local elementary school.

Esther was a wonderful wife, mother, proud grandmother of four, teacher, and a talented scholar.

Esther never allowed her disability to limit her activities and associations. All of us who had the privilege of knowing Esther took inspiration from her selflessness and perseverance in the face of adversity. Up to the week of her terminal illness, Esther was researching and writing a study of Marguerite de Navarre, who was described as representing both the Renaissance and the Reformation.

Esther is loved by all who knew her. We will miss her cheerful and positive approach to life and her sincere interest in the details of our own lives. Everyone who knew Esther were immediately put at ease by her friendly openness and we will all dearly miss her enthusiasm for Life and the Works of Love.

ESTHER GALLERY
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