Esther Elna Schultz
Feb. 2, 1919 - May 12, 2007

Esther Elna Schultz, 88, of Fort Collins, and formerly of Sterling, went to be with her Lord on Saturday, May 12, 2007, in Fort Collins after a courageous battle with Alzheimer's disease. Visitation will be from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, May 15, at Chaney-Reager Funeral Home. Funeral services will be at 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, May 16, at Chaney-Reager, with the Rev. Dan Holsten officiating. Burial will be at Riverside Cemetery.

Esther was born on Feb. 2, 1919, in Blue Hill, Neb., the daughter of Theodore and Matilda Werschke. She attended school in Wylie, and worked as a sales clerk in a variety of stores before beginning her career as a cook at Sterling Junior High and Sterling High School, where she worked from 1972 until her retirement in 1989.

On March 25, 1938, Esther married Conrad Lapp, in Fort Morgan. Conrad drowned in a boating accident in Greeley in 1940, leaving Esther to raise her young son, Leland Lapp, by herself for many years.

On July 4, 1946, she married Emil Schultz in Oberlin, Kan.

Esther enjoyed spending time with her grandchildren, gardening, her finches, eating popcorn and playing board games with her friends every Saturday, baking and hosting missionaries from her church.

She was a resident of Blue Grouse Health Care Center in Fort Collins for several years.

Esther is survived by her grandchildren, Dena Lapp-Phillips and her husband, Wes of Oklahoma City, Leland Lapp Jr. and his wife Tracy of Fort Collins, and Jessica and Nicole Bowey of Virginia Beach, Va.; her great-grandchildren, Jamie and Jacob Lapp of Fort Collins; and brothers, Eric and Ewald Werschke.

She was preceded in death by her son, Leland Lapp; her first husband, Conrad Lapp; her second husband, Emil Schultz; her parents; her sisters, Elsie, Ella and Emma; and brothers, Jonathan, Ervin and Elmer.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests memorials be made to Berean Church in Sterling.