Dortha Esther Fields

Dortha Esther Fields, 91, of Rock Island, IL, died Sunday, September 21, 2014, at her home.

Funeral services will be held at 11 a.m. Thursday, September 25, 2014, at First Baptist Church, 1901 29th Street, Moline. Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Wednesday, September 24, 2014, at Esterdahl Mortuary & Crematory, Ltd., 6601 38th Avenue, Moline. Entombment will be at Rock Island Memorial Park. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Children and Youth Program at First Baptist Church, Moline.

It should come as no surprise that Esther Fields should die on the last day of summer. Now, after a long retirement from teaching, her work was done. In many ways she lived for children and gardens. She had begun teaching at sixteen in a one-room country schoolhouse in northeast Missouri, and later, as her own five kids were nearly grown, she worked with children in early education programs at the Tri-City Jewish Center, Erickson School, the Rock Island Parks and Recreation Preschool. And always she tended her garden. From the time she opened the first seed packets in late winter to the final gathering of tomatoes and beans, the cutting of the last roses, she delighted, as she did with the children she helped nurture, in the redundancy and whimsy of growth and maturation. So, it is appropriate that she should leave us as the last of her garden bounty has been collected and the fields around her childhood farm are heavy with the weight of corn and beans. Now, as the harvest begins, the cold of winter awaits, she has gone. She would never have died in spring.

Dortha Esther Fields was born December 9, 1922, in Clark County, Missouri on her parents' farm, the daughter of Loyd and Ruth Barber St. Clair. On July, 26, 1941, she was married to William "Bill" Fields in Kahoka, Missouri.

In 1932, she professed her faith in the Lord and was baptized, becoming a member of the New Woodville Baptist Church. After graduating from high school at sixteen, she taught two terms at rural school house district Pleasant Hill, #90 in Clark County, Missouri.

Following marriage, she moved with her husband and family as he served in World War II. In 1951 they moved to Rock Island, IL where she has since resided. She has been an active member of First Baptist Church, Rock Island, and later, First Baptist Church, Moline. She served as a local church officer as well as president of American Baptist Women, Area I, Great Rivers Region, IL.

Children's work was her special interest. She taught Sunday School and led workshops on teaching children in many churches across the area. She and Bill were leaders in regional Macedonia Ministries, a lay person-to-person sharing, in MO and IL churches for 20 years. Always active in the lives of their children, they served a co-presidents of the Augustana Parent Club and were leaders in both Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts for many years.

Esther attended Truman University, Kirksville, MO in 1939-40 and received an Associate Degree in education from Black Hawk College. From 1965-79 she worked at Ericsson School, Moline, in the library and Title One program. In 1979 she became the Director of the Rock Island Park Board' preschool program, enhancing the lives of countless children and their families. Esther retired in 1996.

She loved children, teaching, and learning. She was a proud of her Scottish heritage and her membership in the Mary Little Deere-Fort Armstrong Chapter of DAR. Her hobbies were hand sewing, reading, gardening, and people.

She is survived by her five children, Wayne, Jack, Jerry, Marilyn and Eric. In addition she was a loving mother-in-law to Karen, Anne, Molly, Rick, Joni and Heather. She was loved by 10 grandchildren, Sarah, Elizabeth, Aaron, Ellen, Jason, Robert, Sondra, Ally, Megan and Nate. Her great-grandchildren are Jimmy, Nathan, Malena, Jacob, Sarah, Bergen and Boden.

Online condolences may be left for her by visiting esterdahl.com.