Family Stories
Esther and her grandmother, Christina Sering. Her grandmother taught her many things, including how to sew, do needlepoint, and can/preserve fruits and vegetables.
Esther speaks at her older brother Del's memorial service in Springdale, Arkansas on April 13, 2024.
Esther was the third eldest of four siblings, pictured here from L to R: Don, Esther, Del and Mary.
Esther with her older brothers, Don and Del.
The inscription on back of the photo reads: "Three little Johns."
Learning to Drive..
While living in Hawaii, Jim and Esther needed to be able to get around. They had a 1955 Pontiac that was shipped over with all of their other belongings (with the exception of furniture) when the Marine Corps moved them to the island. Jim took Esther out in their car every weekend to practice driving. She had to learn how to parallel park in order to get her driver’s license, however she could not for the life of her do it and kept hitting the barrels each time they practiced. Come the day of the driver’s test, she got in the car with the instructor, took off, and then came back about 15 minutes later. Jim thought “She couldn’t have passed,” but she did! Going toward the back the instructor said to Esther, “No one did any better than you.” It turns out that the instructor skipped that part of the test, which is the only reason she passed. Until the day she died, she never could parallel park.
Eventually, the Pontiac was on its last leg, and they drove it to the Ford dealership in Honolulu to replace it with a new car. They made it as far as the parking lot of the dealership, which is where the Pontiac took its final breath. They were able to strike a deal - the dealership bought the Pontiac and Jim bought a new Ford (basic, no heater, only a radio). A year later when they left Hawaii, the car was shipped back to Escondido. The Ford had no heater. It happened to be Winter when they returned to the states, followed by a road trip to see Jim’s family in Illinois.. Well, they just about froze to death without a heater in the car. They had no money, and were unable to stop at a hotel. When they made it to Illinois, Jim went to Walmart, bought a car heater and installed it himself.
On that same trip, they stopped at a hamburger joint in Oklahoma City. Their Ford had Hawaii plates. The guy who took their order, after talking with a co-worker inside the restaurant, came back out and asked Jim and Esther where they were from. They replied they just got back from Hawaii. The guy said,“Y’all from Hawaii? Well, how did you get this car here from over there?” Jim jokingly replied “I drove it.”
Esther, aka "Aunt Sis," shares stories with her niece, Carey, during a visit on March 15, 2025.
Simpler Times..
The John children grew up in a time when people didn’t have a lot and “money didn’t grow on trees,” as the saying goes. While television was invented in 1927, it wasn’t until decades later in the 1950s that everyday families could afford one. One day, when walking home from school, Esther and her sister Mary saw an antenna standing tall above the rooftops and thought “Look at that, someone got a TV,” not even considering it could have been them… But, as they got closer, they realized it was their house! And so it was that they were the first family on their block to get a television...
Another thing that the Johns lived without while the house their father built for them was still coming together was an indoor bathroom. Instead, they had to use an outhouse in the yard up until Esther’s older brother, Del, installed a septic system when he was just 16 years old.
Lodge Ladies..
Esther was a member of the Pythian Sisters, along with her mother, Aunt Esther and sister, Mary. She became their local temple's youngest Most Excellent Chief in 1961. Esther remained a member from her teens into adulthood, spanning nearly
three decades.