Esther "Mimi" Hagstette Jordan, an elementary school teacher, passionate gardener, and music aficionado, died at her home in Abita Springs on July 24, 2026, at the age of 90. Mellow strains of Richard Wagner's der Ring des Nibelungen, "The Ring Cycle," played in the background as she passed. The 15-hour epic of four operas was her favorite of the German composer's 13 operas. 

Though generally a reserved person, Esther's passions in life could be summed up by two yard signs displayed on her front lawn. One spoke to her love of learning, her openmindedness, and love for her community in a cheerfully colored pro-library message "Ban Hate, Not Books." The second sign, though not permanent, announced her yard as the Abita Springs Garden Club's "Garden of the Month" in April 2023, the year she turned 87.

 Esther retired in 2010, from Slidell's Florida Avenue Elementary school after a long career teaching elementary school in three Greater New Orleans area public school systems. After retirement Esther stayed active by traveling and opening her home to family, friends, and "friends of friends," of all ages. An elegant host, she made sure everyone was welcomed, nourished, and introduced by their first names, including her sitters, and later, home-hospice nurses. As a devoted mother, grandmother, and great- grandmother, Esther loved to see and hear all that was happening in the lives of her family. 

Her eclectic tastes in music, art, dance, literature, and museum visits complimented her passion for evenings of animated conversation over kitchen table board games and card games, including, but not limited to, "Kings in the Corner," and the deceptively strategic game of Qwirkle. She could play the piano, and at least two of her poems were published in a regional literary journal. She enjoyed the visual arts and was especially fond of contemporary regional artist Walter Anderson. 

Together with her late husband Tommy, Esther introduced generations to National Public Radio, public television programming, and the Metropolitan Opera's live Saturday broadcast matinees via radio or simulcast showings at movie theaters. She rarely missed an opportunity to share her passion for operas such as Carmen and La Boheme and stars such as Luciano Pavarotti and Diva Maria Callas. Family members recall how warmly she greeted guests to her home: "You never heard an opera? Well, sit down!" 

Gardening was always Esther's passion, increasingly so as she battled the debilitating effects of Parkinson's disease and macular degeneration. She often used the basket on her walker to transport potting soil, plants, and garden tools. On one particularly warm day, she fell while gardening between the big oak tree and wooden fence at the foot of the driveway of her home. Apparently unhurt, she lay on the ground and defiantly continued wrenching up the weeds threatening her tall stands of Fire Spike, False Indigo, Mexican Petunia, Cana Lilly, and Oak Leaf Hydrangea while a neighbor called for help. 

Like many teachers, Esther was an avid, lifelong reader. When Macular Degeneration slowly robbed her of her sight, she ordered copious audio books from the Louisiana State Talking Books and Braille Library (TBBL) in Baton Rouge. She enjoyed listening to histories of World Wars I and II, books about Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt, as well as the Japanese internment camps. She also enjoyed historical fiction and novels, especially those by Barbara Kingsolver. 

Active in her community, Esther volunteered with the Abita Springs Trailhead Museum and the Abita Springs Garden Club. She always returned to the promising wonder and optimism of the arts and took great joy in bringing those around her along for the visual and audio adventure. Esther also served in leadership roles in local reading and education professional associations and participated for many years in summer writing workshops at SLU. 

Esther Lorraine Hagstette was born in New Orleans on April 28, 1936, to William Joseph Hagstette, Sr. and Hilda Wax, both of New Orleans and who both predeceased her. The family, including siblings Wilda H. Martinez (Deceased July 24, 2011), William Joseph Hagstette, Jr. (Deceased March 14, 2010, (Elena)), Elizabeth Katherine Walker (Dave, Deceased August 25, 2004), and Stephen Edgar Hagstette, Sr. (Natalie), lived in Lakeview, New Orleans. 

Esther was educated at St. John's Lutheran School, then went to Eleanor McMain for three years, begrudgingly graduating from the newly coed Warren Easton High School in 1953. She graduated from Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana in 1958, with a bachelor's degree in education. Esther first taught in 1958, at McDonogh #17 School between N. Prieur and N. Johnson Streets near Hotel Dieu Hospital. She was given the gardener's shed for a classroom with no budget for classroom materials. Undeterred, Esther would cut out pictures from the newspaper, laminate them, and use them as flash cards with her students. She was always that teacher with an ant farm, molting butterflies, hatching chicks, rocks, and seashells in her classroom. Following her field of study, Esther later piloted a T-1 Transitional First Grade program at Florida Avenue Elementary School, Slidell, Louisiana in 1985. 

Esther married Thomas Leslie Jordan, Jr., on Lundi Gras, February 29, 1960. Tommy (a/k/a Grump) predeceased her on September 5, 2007. They had six children, Alta Lorraine Galloway, Priscilla Kathrine Cargo (Fred), Thomas Edward Samual Jordan, Dolly Gay Susan Jordan (Brad), William Edmund Leslie Jordan (Heather), Winchester Fitch Jordan (Deceased October 7, 2024); eleven grandchildren, Gretchen Sanders (Patrick), Erin Gutierrez (John), Andrew Jordan, Madeline Jordan (Colton), Jessica Jordan (Jack), Nicholas Jordan, Kaitlyn Smith, Sara Smith, William Jordan, Joseph Jordan, and Benjamin Jordan; and three great grandchildren, Maggie and Lilly Sanders and Jaxson Little. 

A celebration of Esther's life is planned for Saturday, October 31, 2026, 11:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. at the Madisonville Maritime Museum, 133 Mabel Drive, Madisonville, Louisiana. All are invited to share their memories of Esther's rich life. The family asks that in lieu of flowers (though Esther adored them), donations be made to The Parkinson's Foundation (The Parkinson's Foundation), the Metropolitan Opera (www.metopera.org), or public broadcasting media stations WWNO (www.wwno.org). or WYES (www.wyes.org).