Dr. Esther Hurley DeWeerdt was an intellectual and dedicated person in the field of Psychology and Education of Mental Health. She was born April 1, 1892, at Murray, New York, near Rochester on the family farm. Her father William Hurley (Horeley) came to this country from Germany and she had two sisters, Orpha and Ruth and one brother Louis. She attended rural school and in 1911, after a year and a half of high school at Holley, New York, she received her high school diploma. These were trying times for her as her mother died in December of 1911. After passing a written exam-ination, she received a New York State Teaching license. She taught about thirteen years in rural schools before furthering her education at the University of Rochester in September of 1914. During this time, she sup-ported herself, being of limited means and maintained a high scholastic record and qualified for scholarships and honors in Phi Beta Kappa. While in college she earned money teaching immigrants, which carried over into her later life here in Beloit. It was stated by Miss Daisy Chapin that “she was a member of Glee Club and Art Editor of the College annual Croseus published in 1918 and a member of the YWCA.” In the format of the 1918 annual Esther applied her knowledge, an artistic ability of Greek Art and Literature under the Grecian Arch, Pillar and closed doorway initialed E.A.H. The inscription read:

All experience is an arch where through, gleams that untraveled world whose margin fades forever and forever. Wide, wide the portal stands, for in your hands lies the enchanted key.

Her classmates of 1918 paid this tribute to her:

Esther this foolish grind can’t tell, the debt we owe to you, for the drawings you have done so well, and to which great praise is due. They say ‘Beauty if Truth’ if so then you real truth have found, for in the things you paint and draw the truth of art abounds.

This creative ability was carried on later in the publishing of her pamphlet on Mental Health here in Beloit. Esther entered the University of Chicago in October 1918 on a teaching fellowship in the graduate school. Here her education was interrupted by illness in her family and she returned home where she went to the University of Rochester and there obtained her Master’s degree in Education and Psychology in 1921. In 1918 while Ole Neihuis DeWeerdt received his Bachelor of Arts degree and Master from the University of Rochester, Esther met him. He was a native of the Netherlands and attended high school in Iowa and later went to the Rochester Theological Seminary in New York. Esther married Ole April 12, 1919 and both of them went on to receive their doctorates (PhD) on June 23, 1923, from Yale University. In the years between her Master and Doctorate, she taught as head of the English and Psychology Departments of the Mechanics Institute at Rochester.  As this was not an accredited school and as she did such a thorough teaching job, her students were given college credit in English. In 1923 they came to Beloit and in the Beloit College catalogue he is listed as Associate Professor in Psychology and she as Assistant Professor in Education. Her father and Ruth came with them and lived at 412 Prospect Street, later moving to 808 Park Avenue. In 1925-26 she was President of the American Association of University Women when many of the faculty were members. In minutes of 1931 she was said to have given an intelligence test to the members. She was President of the Visiting Nurse Association and active on many of Beloit’s civic boards, such as Beloit Municipal Hospital, Community Chest and Vocational guidance and personnel committees. She served on the Family Service Board as an ex-officio member for consultation as Clinical Psychologist. She was a member of the First Congregational Church and taught in the Sunday School and youth movements. In 1933 she left the College and again became interested in teaching English to newly arrived immigrants and blacks in Beloit. In cooperation with AAUW through contacts with Miss Edna Munn, principal of Wright School and Beloit Federation of Women, classes were started with college students majoring in education as tutors. A year later Dr. Esther branched out into the field of Mental Health and directed the Study of Child Welfare Committee of Wisconsin Conference of Social Work. She wrote the pamphlet “Five years of Child Welfare Under the Children’s Code of Wisconsin 1929-34.” The Children’s Code dealt with Juvenile Delinquency, child placement, adoption, illegitimacy, aid to dependent children, county children’s board and private and public agencies. It was through her interest and enthusiasm that she served on many state and national welfare boards. In 1935 she became the first President of the Wisconsin Society for Mental Health and the next year in’s executive secretary. She held this position until her illness in 1952. In 1943 the office was established and maintained in the Goodwin block in Beloit and as her husband had resigned from the College, he joined her as a Consulting Hygienist. Her office secretary, Gloria Wagner (Oestreich) said she traveled extensively and was very cooperative, out-spoken and dressed very tailored and conservatively. Her creative talents again showed in the editing of the “Mental Health Bulletin” and handbook “You and the Returning Veteran” published by Allis Chalmers Manufact- uring Company in 1945. The Beloit Daily News, October 13, 1953, editorial paid tribute to Dr. Esther saying that the Beloit Community lost an alert and energetic civic leader and the mentally ill of Wisconsin and the Nation a devoted friend. She had devoted many years of her life to proving that common forms of mental illness can be explained and understood by laymen in terms of everyday experiences and everyday language. In a memorial written by Jane Horton Senescall, as part of the annual report for Mental Health, Inc., 1952-53, she said “It is fitting at this time to pay tribute to the memory of one of the pioneers of this state in the field of Mental Health. She was the first president of this organization and its Executive Director until the time of her death. She worked constantly to improve the care and treatment of the mentally and to prevent mental illness and emotional disturbances through public education and early diagnosis. May her family find consolation in knowledge that seeds planted throughout the State of Wisconsin by her will bear fruit and continue to grow with each coming season.” A memorial fund was formed in the Wisconsin Association of Mental Health in her name to be used within education and fields of mental health and was to be applied to Child Psychiatric training programs made available to the Wisconsin Medical School. Her remains and those of her family are interned in Eastlawn Cemetery. The large marker bears the following inscription: DEWEERDT – PSYCHOLOGIST.