Esther Hershberger

KALONA ? Esther Hershberger, 92, of Kalona, died Monday, March 7, 2016, in Mercy Hospital in Iowa City.

A celebration of life will be held at 3 p.m., Saturday, March 12, at the Sharon Center United Methodist Church in rural Iowa City with the Rev. Erling Shultz officiating. Burial will follow at the East Union Cemetery. Visitation will be held one hour prior to the service, from 2 to 3 p.m., Saturday at the church. A memorial fund for the Sharon Center United Methodist Church and the Pleasantview Home has been established. Beatty Peterseim Funeral Home in Kalona is in charge of the arrangements.

Mrs. Hershberger was born Oct. 23, 1923, in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the daughter of Victor and Barbara (Beller) Sevits. She married Leo Hershberger on July 9, 1949, in Fort Wayne, Indiana. He preceded her in death in 1988, after 39 years of marriage. She married Walter Hershberger on July 14, 2001, in Kalona.

She graduated from Goshen College with an Associate of the Arts degree, and later from La Junta College in La Junta, Colorado, with a nurses degree. She worked as a nurse at the University Hospitals, the Pleasantview Home and Parkview Manor in Wellman. She was a member of the Sharon Center United Methodist Church, where she belonged to the United Methodist Women?s group. She enjoyed working with plastic canvas, and her dog. She loved music, and sang in the church choir and played the piano until recently. Most important to her was her family, and she was happiest when they were all together.

Surviving are four daughters, Mary Peterson and Skip Matthews of Folsom, California, Carol Wiles and husband Don of Kalona, Amy Lord and husband Charles of Ainsworth, and Eugenia Fields of Lewisville, Texas; many grandchildren, great-grandchildren, and great-great-grandchildren; and one sister, Ophia Snyder of Vestaburg, Michigan.

She was preceded in death by her parents; her husband Leo; one son, Alan Mark Hershberger; four sisters; two brothers; and her husband Walter Hershberger.