Thelma Eileen (Horgan) Esker

Thelma Eileen Esker, 97, passed away on January 14, 2022.
Beautiful, smart, sweet, funny, generous, and modest to a fault... Known as Pennie, Red, Thel, Mom... this little red-haired girl was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 22, 1924. Her parents, the late Denis & Madeline Horgan, were a pretty entertaining pair, but those stories will have to find a home elsewhere. Suffice to say that she was a lover of her parents... and her siblings, Jack, Joe, Rosemarie, Bill, and Betty, all of whom went to the great beyond before her. She will be so happy to join them there.
While our mother loved Philadelphia, and all of her family there, she fell in love with a young WWII soldier named Donald Esker. Not surprisingly, the two met at a USO dance in Philly, kindled a romance, and kept the embers of love alive throughout the prolonged, anxious separations that only wartime can create. Returning after his discharge from the army, Donald swept Pennie off her feet and whisked her away to Akron, Ohio, his home town. There they built a life based on their love for each other.
Being a good Catholic wife with strong mothering instincts, Pennie gave life to a gaggle of eight children, from most recent to earliest (blog post style) they are Steve, Chris, Mary Ann, Rick, Deb, Bill, Pat, and Don, Jr.. Of all of those children, and despite the fact that she lived for more than 97 years, only one, Don, Jr., left this earth before her.



For the first couple of decades in Akron, Pennie was a mother and homemaker, living with a team of her ambassadors to the neighborhood. At any moment, she could deploy one of us to check on an elderly neighbor, mow a lawn, shovel a driveway, deliver a meal or a treat. This was a way for her to teach us her gentle generosity, a way to raise children to whom thoughtfulness and service to others was not just a nice thing to do, but was actually the whole point of living in a world of other people. During this time she also volunteered to be a Den Mother, participate in committees at school and at church, and eventually became the Librarian at our school.
When her youngest began 4th grade at Immaculate Conception School in Kenmore, Pennie decided it was time for her to complete her own education, which she'd begun at The University of Pennsylvania in 1942, but suspended to aid the war effort herself by working. She began taking classes at the University of Akron with an eye on a degree in early childhood education. In order to do that, of course, she had to make sure that things would be taken care of at home while she was in class, studying, writing papers, etc. She started a training program at home to make sure any child who was going to be at home without her would know how to make a family dinner. After all, our father needed supper on the table upon his arrival home from work.
Learning to cook and accomplish many other domestic responsibilities was really a nice side benefit to having a mother that was pursuing higher education. Pennie went on to accomplish her academic goals by stages. Her Associate of Applied Science degree was conferred in June of 1973, her Bachelor of Science in Education in December of 1976, at which time her Mortar Board Society Membership was also conferred, and her Master of Arts in Home Economics and Family Ecology in June of 1978. She spent many happy years working in the Early Childhood Education program at the University of Akron where she was the director of the kindergarten. She taught students learning to become teachers at the college level, and children learning to become students at the preschool level. It was truly amazing to be one of her children and watch her blossom into the career she loved.
After retirement, both Pennie and our father settled into life by the lake at Atwood. They spent quite a few years as artisans selling wares at craft shows around the northeastern U.S. until they could no longer travel due to Donald's medical needs. After our father's death in 1996, Pennie spent time traveling, often with her sister, Betty, to visit with all of her children and grand-children wherever they were. She was the quintessential mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, right up to the very last minute of her life. Just this year, even though travel had been out of the question, she got to meet beautiful new additions to her great grandmotherhood as three little ones were born into the family in New York, New Jersey and Norway. She met them all via the magic of modern video communication. She was able to coo to them and marvel at their baby magic... and they could see and hear her, too.
Even though she stayed longer than she really wanted to, Pennie left us last week and it was too soon.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by her husband Donald, son Don, granddaughters Jessica and Heather, and son-in-law George Gray. She is survived by her daughter-in-law Sharon Esker (wife of deceased son Don), as well as her children Pat Gray, Bill (Barb), Deb (Paul) Bahm, Rick (Diane), Mary Ann (Dave) Kent, Chris (Kay), & Steve (Cathi), as well as 20 grandchildren and 32 great-grandchildren.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, January 21, at 11:00 am, at Queen of Heaven Catholic Church 1800 Steese Rd. in Green, where the family will receive friends for one hour prior at the church. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial contribution to the St. Vincent de Paul Society c/o Queen of Heaven Parish.