Esther Pilster (November 11, 1916 – July 20, 2014), born Esther Eunice Jones, was an educator, principal, activist and philanthropist from Nebraska.

Early life and education

Esther Eunice Jones was born on a farm near Wymore, the daughter of Edward Evan Jones and Margaret Oliver Humphreys Jones. Her mother and paternal grandparents were born in Wales. She graduated from Otoe Consolidated High School in Barneston. In 1938, Jones trained as a teacher at Peru State College, and earned bachelor's and master's degrees at the University of Nebraska Omaha.

Career

After graduating, Pilster got her first job teaching at a one-room school in Gage County. She moved to Omaha in the 1940s to teach at elementary schools such as Jungemann and Belle Ryan. She rose to the rank of principal and was appointed the first principal of Boyd Elementary School, a position she held for over 21 years before retiring in 1982. Pilster was a featured annual speaker at Rural Teachers Institutes in Gage County through the 1940s. For several years in the 1950s, she taught at a summer reading clinic for

gifted children Intellectual giftedness is an intellectual ability significantly higher than average. It is a characteristic of children, variously defined, that motivates differences in school programming. It is thought to persist as a trait into adult life, wi ...

in Omaha. In the 1960s she was elected president of the Nebraska chapter of

Delta Kappa Gamma Delta Kappa Gamma () is a professional society for women educators. History The society was founded on May 11, 1929, at the Faculty Women’s Club at the University of Texas, Austin, Texas. The idea was conceived by Annie Webb Blanton, member of ...

professional society.

Retirement

During her retirement, she presented book reviews, programs for professional groups and care centers in the Omaha area. She would often present reviews and programs in a wide variety of historical and fantasy costumes such as the

Statue of Liberty The Statue of Liberty (''Liberty Enlightening the World''; French: ''La Liberté éclairant le monde'') is a List of colossal sculpture in situ, colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor in New York City, in the U ...

, Betsy Ross and an Easter Bunny. For example, in 1993, she gave a presentation about First Ladies of the United States, dressed as a White House maid. In 1984, Pilster served as a Congressional Senior Intern in Washington, D.C. In 2006, as a memorial to her late husband, she donated over 3,731 acres of ranchland for the creation of the Mari Sandoz Heritage Center. The heritage center focuses on teaching agricultural skills and a research center for

agronomy Agronomy is the science and technology of producing and using plants by agriculture for food, fuel, fiber, chemicals, recreation, or land conservation. Agronomy has come to include research of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology, and ...

research. She was also involved in the Great Plains Welsh Heritage Museum and the Welsh Society of Nebraska.

Awards

In 1979, Pilster was named "Queen of Keystone", an honorary title given to notable people in Keystone, a neighborhood in North Omaha. In 1997, Omaha renamed a park to

Esther Pilster Park This is a list of parks in Omaha, Nebraska. It includes cemeteries and golf courses. Most parks in Omaha are governed by the City of Omaha Parks and Recreation Department. History In 1854 Alfred D. Jones drew four parks on the original map of ...

. In 2006, Pilster received a key to Omaha for her years of dedication to the community. In 2008, Pilster received a award for "outstanding educator" from the ''

Omaha World Herald The ''Omaha World-Herald'' is a daily newspaper in the midwestern United States, the primary newspaper of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. It was locally owned from its founding in 1885 until 2020, when it was sold to the newspaper ch ...

''.

Personal life

In 1939, Esther Jones married fellow educator Raleigh A. Pilster; he died in 2002. Esther Pilster died at her home in Omaha in 2014, aged 97 years.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pilster, Esther 1916 births 2014 deaths Schoolteachers from Nebraska Educators from Omaha, Nebraska Activists from Omaha, Nebraska American people of Welsh descent 20th-century American women educators 20th-century American educators Peru State College alumni University of Nebraska Omaha alumni American school principals Women school principals and headteachers People from Gage County, Nebraska 21st-century American women