Esther Anne Bumgardner

Apr 2, 1937 -

Aug 29, 2020

Daughter, sister, mother, grandmother, friend – Our Esther, 83, passed peacefully on Aug. 29, 2020, at Primrose Retirement Community after a 2-year decline in health during which she displayed grace and acceptance through each phase. Her son Eric is planning a memorial service probably in the springtime and date/time will be announced as the time approaches.

Born April 2, 1937, in Boise, Idaho, to Bruce and Grace Montgomery, she was their sixth child. As the youngest in a large family, she learned to be resourceful, hardworking and high achieving.

For Mom, overcoming the effects of having polio at a young age instilled in her a tenacious spirit that never gave up on anything. In her teen years, she was blessed to meet her best friend Shirlene. Together, they developed their affinity for singing which continued to Mom's final days. Idaho being farm country, her first job was driving a tractor for her brother-in-law Dick Nelson, at the age of 13. She drove her John Deere tractor to mow her own huge lawn until she was 81.

She was a hardworking student and graduated 16th out of 450 students from Boise High in 1955 and later from college at Portland State. In fall 1960, she had accepted a junior high school teaching position in Anchorage, Alaska. She enjoyed relating that on her flight to Alaska she was the only woman in a plane full of men headed for a rural Alaskan moose hunt.

It was in 1961 that she met Jim Bumgardner, who himself was drawn to Alaska to try to bag his first moose. They married that March. Dad had arrived in Alaska in a pick-up truck with a homemade camper attached. This camper was set down on 2 acres of Alaska wilderness that Dad had bought. It became their first home and set the course for their lifetime of building and remodeling homes for our family. They then built a 16 by 16 home where their daughter Vivian was raised. Mom grew vegetables and Dad brought home moose meat each fall.

To acquire land to build their dream home on the hillside, our Mom obtained her real estate license. This decision led to a successful 35-year career in which her deep passion for helping people become homeowners was her spiritual service, as well as her livelihood. Son Eric and daughter Monica grew up in the Goldenview home, and nearly all family holidays and celebrations took place there for Jim and Esther's children, grandchildren and friends that were embraced as family.

Mom sought a spiritual community and joined a Urantia study group, Meditation Group and the Grandmother Drum project. These circles of friends provided a way for her to express her love to humanity and devotion to spiritual growth. She traveled with them extensively while also regularly visiting her family in Boise. Her huge collection of photos revealed how much she loved nature, being with people and homes that she was a part of building and maintaining.

It was a hard life for her after Dad passed in 2006. However, her work ethic and determination served her well as she carried on with all the maintenance and continued improvements and additions to her Goldenview home and West Lake Property.

Both Esther and Jim were part of the greatest generation. Born during the Great Depression, they embraced the values of frugality and unwavering commitment to hard work. They lived by that era's motto "Use it up, wear it out, make-do or do without." Despite her achieving a comfortable economic status, she still bought and altered secondhand clothing, made do with what she had and did without in order to help and serve others. All the while, she exclaimed for every circumstance. "For the highest good." She would be proud of those who follow in her footsteps and secure her legacy of tenacity, integrity and service.

Esther is survived by her daughter, Vivian Bowman and her family, husband Christopher and daughters Kim and Mandy; her son, Eric Baumgardner and his family, wife Lynn Yang and son Gavin; and her daughter, Monica Pereira and her family, husband Jeff and son Dominic.