Welcome, Grace! First, let’s be sure to pronounce her last name correctly: ES - tel.
Grace was born and reared on a
farm near Garrison, Pennsylvania. She had a sister near her age
and a brother who died young. Her father was a painter and paper
hanger. Her mother cared for the garden, as well as the home and
family. She even took the grain to the mill. (Can’t you
imagine the delicious aroma from the kitchen when she made a
batch of bread?)She and her sister started to school the same year, walking through a neighboring farm to cut the distance to less than a mile to the one-room school. They finished elementary, high school, and then Fairmont, West Virginia, Business College together.
During a Temperance Union camp she made her decision to follow a church-related vocation. Unfortunately, she was severely injured in an accident which caused her to lose a year and a half before she could continue her studies.
After courses at Waynesburg College she asked her district superintendent if he had a job for her. No, but he recommended that she continue her education at Scarritt College. Since Scarritt would not accept her Waynesburg College credits, she finished her degree at National College in Kansas City. Later she did participate in a short term school for Church and Community Workers for a month at Scarritt.
She was consecrated a deaconess in 1957. Her appointments have been with cooperative ministries in Pennsylvania, New York state, New Hampshire, Connecticut and West Virginia.
Her hobbies include crocheting, tatting, knitting, ceramics, and working on her genealogy.
"I always planned to live at Brooks-Howell," she said.