Esther Helen Henning

Esther Helen Henning, 99, born on August 4, 1914, in Mitchell, South Dakota passed away June 29, 2014. She resided in Glendale, California at the time of her passing. Arrangements are under the direction of Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Los Angeles, CA.

Esther Helen Henning passed away peacefully in her sleep, after a short decline in health, on June 29, 2014, just one month before her 100th birthday. Esther, who became known affectionately as "Auntie," was born to William and Sarah Henning on August 4, 2014 on a farm near Mitchell, South Dakota. She had three brothers, Albert, Lowell, and Russel, and two sisters, Ethel and Lucile. Her family were Baptist, and Esther herself accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior in the ninth grade at an evangelistic service at the Corn Palace in Mitchell.

Esther graduated from Dakota Wesleyan College in 1936 with a two-year teaching credential and taught in country schools in South Dakota and Wisconsin until she moved to Wasco, California in 1943 to be near the family of her sister, Ethel Davis, whom she then followed to Los Angeles in 1950. After graduating from U.S.C. in 1951 with a Bachelor's degree, Esther taught in Anaheim schools until 1976. By this time she had acquired 39 years of teaching experience in addition to the distinction of having begun her career in a one-room country schoolhouse and ended it in the first school in California to use televised teaching. She also employed her talents in service to the churches she actively attended during these years.

Upon retirement in 1976, Esther moved to Hemet where her two sisters already lived. She was a member of Grace Memorial and then First Baptist Church, volunteered at Casa de Verdugo (Valley Christian) Retirement Home, and traveled around the world with her sister Lucile Harrison and husband Myers, and around the U.S. with Lucile and their good friend, Helen Bolton. In 2000 Esther moved to Glendale to live with her niece and namesake, Esther Walgenbach and her husband Dan. During the last 14 years, Esther Henning loved to walk at Descanso Gardens several times a week, was active at First Baptist Church at La Crescenta, and enjoyed visits with her large extended family, especially the children. She always enjoyed crocheting, sewing, and arts and crafts. Even at 97 she could recite her "ABC Bible verses" and often did so when she had trouble sleeping at night. In her own words, "God has given me a wonderful life with the opportunity to study his Word and to truly know that . . . I will be with Christ Jesus in Heaven with all my loved ones."

Esther was the last of her generation in the Henning family. She was preceded in death by two nephews: Dennis Henning and Douglas Henning. She is survived by her nieces and nephews; Caroline Camp, Clarice Dalton, Kay Ahrens, Curtis Henning, Roger Henning, Roberta Langan, Donald Davis, Dorothy Davis, Ruth Moritz, Esther Walgenbach, James Davis, and many others of the following generations. Esther was always generous with her time and resources, happy to serve in any way needed, ever ready with a warm smile and comfortable manner that attracted so many of these nieces and nephews over the years, all of whom lovingly remember her as "Auntie."