Esther E. Yaworski

Esther E. Yaworski, 95, longtime Lake Nebagamon, WI resident, died Monday, October 26, 2009 at St. Luke’s Hospice in Duluth, MN.
She was born on February 4, 1914 in Superior, WI to Nels Herman and Carolina (Larson) Anderson.

She graduated from the former Central High School and the St. Mary’s Hospital School of Nursing in 1935.

She married Tony Yaworski on January 23, 1931 and they celebrated sixty-eight years of marriage before his passing in 1999.

Esther held positions as private duty nurse and head nurse at St. Mary’s Hospital on the medical-surgical floor and later joined the faculty of the Superior Vocational Technical and Adult School in the Practical Nursing Program. After forty-four years of nursing service she retired from the Wisconsin Indianhead Technical Institute Superior campus where she had been a clinical instructor in the LPN Program since 1958. The Wisconsin Conference of Catholic Hospitals in 1962 cited Mrs. Yaworski as “the most valuable employee at St. Mary’s Hospital” and the award was made in Milwaukee by Archbishop William Cousins. In Esther’s own words “I have loved every minute of my nursing career. It is a very fulfilling profession.”

In 1996, Esther was nominated and honored as a hero on national television – the segment was titled “Hero of the Day. In the nomination letter it was written that “she is a very special lady to a lot of people” and was described as a “dedicated, outstanding career nurse and nursing instructor before she retired.”

While Esther worked full time, she accepted many leadership roles in the community, in addition to raising three daughters, and caring for her bed-ridden mother in her home for fifteen years. She volunteered in nursing care of area Hospice patients and assisted with monthly blood pressure clinics. She had been known to provide her own “meals on wheels” to shut-ins. She also co-chaired a highly successful bike-a-thon for Cystic Fibrosis, an organization she had a special interest in because of a granddaughter who had the disease.

Esther was a very active member of Trinity Lutheran Church in Lake Nebagamon. She was a longtime member of the American Nurses Association, a former president of the Superior District of Professional Nurses, and had represented the latter group on the NACHPO Board for many years. Other memberships include the Superior VTAE Foundation, Douglas County Mental Health Association, local and area emergency medical services program, UCT Auxiliary #269, a former member of Pilgrim Lutheran Church, member of the UWS Alumni Association, Lake Nebagamon Garden Club and the Ladies Elks Club. Also she and her husband, Tony enjoyed traveling extensively throughout the United States and Europe.
She told her family that “My family is my life. My husband and I are very thankful to God for having sixty-five years of a happy marriage, good health and wonderful children including three great sons-in-law.”

She is preceded in death by her husband, Tony, her parents, thirteen brothers and sisters, son-in-law, Richard Foote, granddaughter, Catherine Foote and grandson, Richard Foote, Jr.

Esther is survived by three daughters, Maurine (Stan) Ladich, Lake Nebagamon, WI, Toni Ann Foote, Pensacola, FL and Carol Jean (Alan) Lisdahl, Lake Nebagamon, WI; six grandchildren, Gregory, Curtis, Ann, Lynn, Greta and Krista and ten great-grandchildren, Rachel, Jessica, Alexandria, Nicole, Patrick, Cole, Maximilian, Oscar, Duke and Sean.

Visitation will begin at 10:00 AM, Friday, October 30, 2009 in Trinity Lutheran Church in Lake Nebagamon and continue until the 11:00 AM Memorial Service with Pastor Darrell Kyle officiating.
Burial will be in the Lake Nebagamon Cemetery.

Should friends desire, memorials may be to the Tony Yaworski Scholarship Fund.

The Downs-LeSage Funeral Home, 1304 Hammond Avenue, Superior is assisting the family with arrangements.
To leave an online condolence or to sign the guestbook, please visit www.downs-lesage.com.