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Submitted: 5/3/12 • Approved: 5/3/12 • Last Updated: 2/11/15 • R686210-G686209-S3
Born September 3, 1923, Bayard, Morrill County, Nebraska
Died April 12, 2012, Russellville, Pope County, Arkansas
Daughter of Martin & Mary Kniss
Married Henry Rudolph "Rudy" Dobbs, September 2, 1944
The Batesville Guard, Batesville, Arkansas, April 25, 2012:
RUSSELLVILLE — Esther Kniss Dobbs, 88, of Russellville died Sunday, April 22, 2012.
Born Sept. 3, 1923, in Bayard, Neb., she was the daughter of Martin and Mary Kniss. She grew up working with her family as sharecroppers on a beet farm. When she was young, her family moved to Fort Morgan, Colo., where she graduated from high school in 1941. She followed her older brothers to California to work and supported the United States war effort by working in an aircraft factory, first as a machinery operator and later in the plans and blueprints office.
She met Rudy Dobbs in San Diego, and they were married in 1944. They lived in California, Florida, Washington, Missouri and Arkansas.
She worked as a professional seamstress for a local shirt manufacturer and later for an interior decorator, retiring at age 65. In 1993 she moved to Russellville. She was an active member of Belview Baptist Church in Melbourne and Second Baptist Church in Russellville.
She was a St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan and enjoyed knitting and crocheting. She remained physically active well into her 80s, taking water aerobics classes, tending her two-acre lawn and driving the seniors from her Sunday school class to their doctors' appointments.
Survivors include three sons, Steve Dobbs, Rodney Dobbs and Carl Dobbs; six grandchildren; and two great-grandchildren.
She was preceded in death by her parents; four brothers, Harry Kniss, Herman Kniss, Walter Kniss and Rueben Kniss; her husband; and a son, Gary Dobbs.
The funeral will be at 10 a.m. Saturday at Howard Memorial Chapel in Melbourne. Burial will be in Violet Hill Cemetery under the direction of Eddie's Family Funeral Home in Melbourne.
Visitation will be from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m. Friday.
(Photo courtesy of Vera Reeves)
Contributed on 5/3/12 by maxparnell
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Record #: 686210