Esther Israel is Centennial
SFTD Queen
This my story. I have lived almost all of my life in
In 1926 we moved to the Keyes Community when my Mother
and Dad, Mamie and Harry Ford, my uncle Nomon Ford and my granddad J.O. “Odie”
Ford came to Keyes to build the depot and section houses and we have been here
ever since. We moved to the Hurley area and when I first started to school I
was so little John Vannatta or Connolley
McBride had to get off the school bus and lift me on.
I went to school my first year in
what was then the First Baptist Church basement and in the next several years
in the wooden school houses they moved in and when the new School was built on
South side of the football field I started junior high and high school there. I
graduated in 1941.
On our Jr.-Sr.
trip we went in a farm truck with a tarp over it and to help pay for the trip
others sometimes paid to go along. That year M.J. Israel paid to go along and
we started dating. He was called to service in 1942 and I stayed with his
Mother Alma Israel to help look after her while he was gone.
He couldn’t afford to call but we
kept in touch with letters. He was sent to
We were married 62 years before he
passed away in 2004. We weren’t supposed to have children but in 1948 we had a
son named Roger Randall. He passed away with Kidney infection when he was a
year old. In 1954 we lucked out again and had our son Timothy Peter. In 1966 we
had the good fortune to get our daughter Norma by adoption. M. J. said it was
one of best things we ever did. We had a hand in raising several other children
who were kind of like our own.
In 1962 we built our home so Norma
could have a room and didn’t have to sleep on the couch.
In September of 1954 Tupperware came along and I
decided to give it a try. Tim was only seven months old and 53 years later I am
still selling Tupperware.
None of the males in M. J.’s life lived to be more than 62 but he lacked two weeks
being 88 when he passed away and in that 26 years we traveled the world
courtesy of Tupperware. We were in 28
countries overseas and all but
Norma taught at a base in
We lost our first grandson when Timmy
Lane Talbert was killed in Guymon. He was a wonderful artist and played guitar.
He was in his 20’s.
In 1976 Tim married our wonderful
daughter-in-law Jan Clark daughter of Hal and Pat Clark. They gave us three
precious grandsons which have accomplished so many things. Two of them Kent and
Kirk attend college at Oklahoma Wesleyan in
I could tell you hours of stories of
all the things I have done in Tupperware for I am the longest living continual
person in Tupperware nation-wide. I am the only one to hold five parties in
five states in one day with my wonderful hostesses. I have a houseful of
trophies, gifts, furniture and have owned 37 Free automobiles
. I have broken so many national records both for myself and the girls
who were in my unit. I had one Miss