Esther Louise Christie

Esther Louise Christie, ninety-three, of Nevada, passed away early Sunday, January 10, 2021 at Spring River Christian Village in Joplin, Missouri.  She was born January 18, 1927 in Anson, Kansas. She graduated from high school in neighboring Conway Springs.  These were adjoined rural, central Kansas communities, where her father, John Blair Ross owned a garage, blacksmith shop, and an ice house, which served the refrigeration needs of the community. He would take turns taking Esther and her five siblings with him to Wichita to pick up the ice, which always included a treat.  She spoke of these days as being among the happiest of her life.  Even as her memory began to wane, these were the memories which endured, strong and vibrant, to the very end. Her mother Neva, a beautiful, petite 14 year-year-old, who married John during WW I while he was in the Army, fighting in Germany, was always a homemaker. Having seven children in ten years, she was a short, large woman, who always displayed a cheerful and playful outlook, laughed a great deal, and was an exemplary cook.  Esther eventually married Albert (Chris) Christie, a retired Navy diver and veteran of WW II.  The couple initially traveled the United States while Chris, a millwright, worked on missile silos being built in the Southwest.  Here, the couple developed an interest in treasure hunting, and with a couple old mine detectors roamed the Pecos river outside Roswell, NM. With some success, they began a placer gold mining operation in the high country along Beaver Creek outside Fairplay, Co.  During the spring and summer Esther run a gold separating process, in the fall and winter, they worked together cutting timber in Fraser, Co., then claiming to be the coldest place in the nation.  Eventually, the couple moved to Detroit, where they spent twenty years while Chris worked in the automotive industry and Esther worked with different Christian groups. She became very instrumental and well respected in developing an alliance with several Muslim families and helping them understand Christianity.  Two of these families continued to contact her regularly until she went into the nursing home.  When Chris developed life-threatening heart issues, they relocated to Nevada where they could live in the country and near their son, Glen and daughter Debbie, who lived with her family in Wichita.  After Chris passed Oct 28, 1999, Esther took extensive trips to stay with Debbie and her family to help her through her severe health issues. On Sept 21, 2003, Debbie passed away and Esther, a widow in her mid-70’s, still enduring the pain of losing her husband, took on the task to finish raising her great granddaughter until she graduated from high school.  Esther was an amazing, resilient, and gentle woman.  She enjoyed writing poetry, spent hundreds each year on charity solicitations she got in the mail, walking and quietly listening to her surroundings, feeding the wildlife, and just appreciating the forested areas all around her.  She has always been a devout Christian and a blessing to our family and our community.  She will be greatly missed.

She is survived by a son, Glen L Christie and wife Sharon of Nevada; seven grandchildren, Glen E Christie, Lance C Christie, John B Christie, Naomi R Christie, C Patrick Christie, Gene P Christie, Carol A Tate, Richard Redenbaugh, Jr, Misty Redenbaugh, and great granddaughter Catherine Perkins, to whom she was extremely close. She also has fifteen other great-grandchildren, a sister, Mildred Briles of California, and a host of extended family and special friends.

Funeral services will be 1 p.m. Saturday, January 16, 2021 in the Ferry Funeral Home Chapel with Pastor Jacob Jones of the Free Will Baptist Church officiating.  Interment will be in the Antioch Cemetery at a later time.

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