Esther Hollabaugh - Sixth Child of William Levi and Mary Lucetta

The Children of William Levi Hollabaugh and Mary Lucetta Case

- Harriet (1872-1950)

-Bertha ( 1874-1964)

-Ernest ( 1875-1955)

-Geneva (1878-1968) *grandmother

-Clarence (1881-1887)

-Esther (1887-1958)

-Sylvia (1888-1968)

                      -Stanley (1890-1967)

Born April 8, 1887, in Dekalb County, Indiana, Esther Hollabaugh spent a good part of her life living with her parents.  According to her niece, Violette, she was a beautiful pianist.  The family story was that she had been hurt emotionally by some man and never dated again after that incident.  

When her mother died and her father's age advanced, the family felt it best to commit Esther to institutional care because of her mental illness.  She was admitted to the Eastern Indiana Hospital for the Insane (later named Central State Hospital and then Richmond State Hospital) in Richmond, Indiana.  She spent twenty-three years there until her death on March 4, 1958.  She is buried at the Riverside Cemetery, St. Joe, 
Indiana.

Upon her death, Esther's sister, Sylvia, inherited this music stand which has shelves inside for storing sheet music.  The stand then passed to Sylvia's niece, Violette, and finally to her son.  It stands in our living room today.

 Her obituary:
"Spencerville, March 4, 1958 - Miss Esther Hollabaugh, 70, died early this morning in a hospital in Richmond, where she had been 23 years.  Surviving are three sisters, Mrs. Bertha Baker of Mishawaka, Mrs. Eva Pflaumer, Spencerville, and Mrs. Sylvia Ginther, Salt Lake City, Utah, and a brother, Stanley Hollabaugh, Spencerville.  Services will be conducted at 2 p.m. Thursday in the Baidinger-Walter Funeral Home here, the Rev. Ivan Miller, pastor of St. Peter's Lutheran Church, officiating.  Burial will be in Riverside Cemetery, St. Joe.  Friends may call at the funeral home after 7 p.m. Wednesday."