Esther Eggleston -€“ 03-April-2001 -€“ Weaving Women'€™s Words

About this film

Oral historian Pamela Brown Lavitt interviewed Esther Eggleston on April 3, and May 3, 2001 in Seattle, Washington as part of the Jewish Womenâs Archive "Weaving Women's Words" project. Widowed at age 36, Esther Eggleston managed single motherhood and work as the first female executive administrator of Temple de Hirsch Sinai, serving three rabbis and a growing membership of almost 1,000 families during her 23 years of service. Born in St. Louis in 1905, Esther's family moved to Seattle in 1912. In her working life she felt useful and accomplished, underappreciated and unacknowledged-the tangle of rewards and disappointments experienced by working women in mid-century. Devoted to her daughter and her volunteer causes, Esther received the first Esther Eggleston Outstanding Service Award from Women's American ORT in 1993, now awarded annually in her honor. Esther Eggleston passed away in Seattle on July 21, 2008. Esther Eggleston photo: Credit Joan Roth. Joan Roth's website In the early 2000s, the Jewish Women's Archive conducted oral history interviews with 30 Jewish women living in Baltimore and another 30 in Seattle. Born in the early decades of the 20th century, these women lived…

Directors & creators

Jewish Women's Archive

Subjects

Single Parent; Firsts; ORT Award; executive administrator; Temple de Hirsch Sinai

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