Esther Evelyn Roberts Broome's Obituary
Dr. Esther Evelyn Roberts Broome
Esther Evelyn Roberts was born Monday, October 9, 1911 in Kirbyville, TX to Frank Lee and Sammie Little Roberts. She was the last of 8 children in this family. She died at Good Shepherd Hospital Friday, September 24, 2010. She Lived at Buckner Westminster Place in Longview.
Esther Started School at Kirbyville and graduated there after spending part of her Senior year at Byrd High School in Shreveport, LA. College work began at Southwest Texas State Teacher's College interrupted by the depression. She later graduated from Lamar Junior College and then finished college at SWTSTC. Years later she went to TWU for her Masters Degree and ultimately received her PhD from there.
Esther was a school teacher most of her life. She began teaching at a one-room school near Kendalia, TX. She taught for NYA during the depression. Later she taught Science at Waelder, TX and Home Economics for 16 years at Beckville, TX. After receiving her PhD, she stayed on at TWU as a teacher primarily in the Textile Research area. During these years she led the research toward development of the material for flight suits for the original NASA astronaughts. Later developments in the labs under her direction were the bedding and sleep wear flammability standards.
Dr. Broome held memberships in the DRT, DAR, Eastern Star, Delta Kappa Gamma, Texas Home Economics Association, American Home Economics Association, American Society of Testing and Materials, and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists. She was selected to write curriculum for a school in Malaysia and later a Baptist school in Dakar, Senegal. She traveled extensively around the world.
She married Jasper Sturrock and had one son. She later married Ralph Broome who raised that son. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband, brothers, sisters and sister-in-law Johnnie Lee Feemster and nieces and nephews. She is survived by her son, Dr. Jim Sturrock and daughter-in-law Jeanne Branson Sturrock. Her grandchildren, Jeff and Kathy Sturrock, and Emalyn and Les Lovitt, her great grandchildren, Erin and Robert McClintick, Emily Sturrock, Dylan and Reezin Lovitt. She also has great great grandchild Charles Jeffrey McClintick. Also many nieces and nephews and her friend and long-tome secretary Mildred Marsh.
She was a staunch Baptist having been saved at the age of 9. Her membership was at the First Baptist Church in Denton, TX. She has established several scholarships at SWTU, ETBU, and Panola College.
She enjoyed her friends at Buckner, the "Broome Kids" she taught, and her care-takers at Dr. Larry Huffman's office and Louis Morgan Drug #4. She especially enjoyed her sitters furnished by Nell Secord: Rose Evans, Nancy Wilkerson, Gladys Boggs, and Marie Dowdy.
Services will be held at ten am Tuesday, September 28, 2010 in the Chapel of Rader Funeral Home in Longview. Burial will follow at the Harris Chapel Cemetery.
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