Esther Louise England

Esther Louise England was born July 3, 1944, in Colorado Springs, Colo., the daughter of Richard Neil England (a Congregational minister) and Janet Alice MacDonald England (a registered nurse and, later, elementary school teacher). At the time of her birth, her father was a U.S. Army chaplain, stationed with the 50th General Hospital in France in the midst of World War II. Her mother was an Army nurse, stationed at Camp Carson, Colo. After the war, the family was reunited in Missoula and then moved to Hardin, where the Rev. England resumed his pastorate of the Hardin Congregational Church. A younger sister, Gwen, was born in Billings; and the youngest sister, Patty, completed the family in Scappoose, Ore.

The Englands moved every few years to a succession of small towns in the Pacific Northwest. Esther was a straight-A student, graduating at the top of her class in McCall, Idaho, in 1962. With the help of a Betty Crocker scholarship, she attended the University of Montana, where in short order she found her life's calling in the School of Music and achieved a B.A. in fine arts.

Following graduation from the University, her incomparably glorious mezzo-soprano voice earned her an offer from the Metropolitan Opera as a featured soloist with their touring company. Simultaneously, she was offered a Fulbright Scholarship to sing and study with the Musikhochschule in Munich, Germany, along with advanced language studies at the Goethe Institut. She opted for Germany, where she remained until 1969, when she returned to Missoula to accept a contract as a voice teacher at the UM Department of Music, ultimately rising to the position of associate dean of Fine Arts. She was a proficient pianist as well as a singer and voice teacher, and was a co-founder of the Missoula Children's Theatre and "The Group" (a superb choir of people from all sorts of musical backgrounds who just loved to sing).

In the year 2000, the gift of her magnificent voice was abruptly stripped away from her when a serious automobile accident resulted in broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, and a pierced and partially paralyzed diaphragm. That same year, she was stricken with breast cancer, requiring surgery, chemotherapy and radiation. But Esther England never skipped a beat. With unwavering passion, for the remainder of her life she poured all her wealth of musical knowledge, artistry, brilliance, love, compassion, idealism and realism, nurturing wisdom, lavish generosity, sensitivity, humor and joie de vivre into her students and friends. She continued to teach full time at the University, providing her students with unlimited professional and personal mentoring and career advocacy. She served as musical director of innumerable musical and theatrical productions, recitals, concerts and adjudications. She established and endowed two musical scholarship funds. In 2003 she was honored as "Distinguished Faculty of the University of Montana" and also the Carnegie Foundation (CASE) National Award for Teaching.

In her spare time she designed her own house, where she helped raise her niece and nephew, planted roses and babied a succession of Siamese cats, meanwhile giving unfailing loving support to her sisters, her aging parents and her friends. Esther was an inspiration, a soft place to fall, a reliably down-to-earth confidante, and a firm but gentle kick in the rear when you needed it. And no one did Christmas like Esther!

At the age of 61, in the face of increasing health problems, she retired from the University but continued to teach private students in her home. When a stroke in November of 2012 made it unwise for her to continue living alone, she and her cats moved to Hunters Glen Assisted Living and kept on teaching students of all ages, using the little white piano in her living room there. Predictably, the residents and staff of Hunters Glen all immediately fell in love with her, and the magic continued.

After a gallant fight, Esther passed away at 4:30 p.m. Saturday, July 6, 2013, at St. Patrick Hospital, surrounded by softly singing loved ones, in the wake of a brief but severe illness resulting in a catastrophic pneumonia and, finally, failure of her great heart. Her last clearly spoken words were "Glory Be to God." Generous to the last, through the gift of her corneas, she provided sight to someone in need of a transplant.

She is survived by her grieving sisters, Gwen and Patty; her nieces and nephews, Richard and Jennie and Gus and Robin; her caretaker/friend/soul-sister, Shirley; her cats, Sammie and Sparky (who are now safely adopted by Shirley); and innumerable beloved friends. We will miss her dearly. We have all been incredibly enriched and blessed to have known her. We joyously celebrate her life, and we look forward to seeing her again. We presume she is not only singing in the Heavenly Choir – she is directing it.

A memorial service in honor of Esther will be held Aug. 20 at 7 p.m. in the Music Recital Hall at the University of Montana. In lieu of flowers, Esther would prefer donations to her scholarship funds as noted below:

Gifts may be made payable to the University of Montana Foundation and noted for the Esther England Endowed Excellence in Voice Scholarship or the Esther England Endowed Vocal Enrichment Fund. Checks should be mailed to the UM Foundation, P.O. Box 7159, Missoula, MT 57807-7159.

You may make a gift online at SupportUM.org or by calling the foundation at

1-800-443-2593. Please indicate the fund your gift will benefit.

THANK YOU, ESTHER, FOR HELPING US ALL TO SING!

Read Esther England's Obituary and Guestbook on www.missoulafuneralhomes.com.