Esther Cotner, 95, of Water Street, passed away Monday, April 21, 2014, at Geisinger Medical Center, Danville, where she was admitted on Saturday.

She was born April 8, 1919, in Berwick, a daughter of the late Christopher and Martha (Cain) Lynn. She was married to Frank W. "Pip" Cotner for 41 years before his death on July 16, 1984.

Esther was a 1936 graduate of Danville High School and began her working years in 1936 as a secretary for the law office of Hemingway & Wagner in Danville. She relocated to California with her husband while he was serving in the Army, where she worked in the laboratory at DeWitt General Hospital. After his discharge from the service, they returned to Washingtonville where Esther held the office of justice of the peace until 1972. From 1950 through 1952, she worked for attorney R.S. Hemingway as a legal secretary. In July 1968, she began working for Ebasco Services Inc., the construction company that built the Montour Steam Electric Station at Washingtonville until the plant was completed in 1974.

During the 1970s, she held various positions in Montour County and Washingtonville, including serving as financial secretary of the Washingtonville Municipal Authority, secretary and treasurer of Washingtonville borough and Washingtonville borough's notary public. In 1979, she was appointed district justice of Montour County by the governor and was certified as a district justice at Wilson College, Chambersburg. From 1980 until retiring, Esther was the chief assessor and tax claim director of Montour County and was a Montour County commissioner. At the time of her passing, she was serving as the mayor of Washingtonville.

Esther was the president of the Delong Memorial Hall, Washingtonville; a charter member and past president of the BPW, Danville; and a member of the PP&L Advisory Board, the Geisinger Medical Center Auxiliary; the Washingtonville Fire Company Auxiliary and the Valley Grange.

She was a member of Washingtonville Lutheran Church.

Surviving are a daughter and son-in-law, Amy M. and Chip Zimmerman, of Bloomsburg; four grandchildren, Seth Cotner, Suzanne Hendershot, Stefanie and Kelly Williams; and three great-grandchildren, Frank Cotner and Curtis and Colin Hendershot.

She was preceded in death by one son, Elmer L. Cotner, in 1977; seven brothers, Walter, Woodrow, Harry, Jack, Chris, Tommy and Robert Lynn; and four sisters, Loretta Hendricks, Leona Brown, Edith Heimbach and Annabelle Strausser.

Friends are invited to call from 6 to 8 p.m. Thursday and 10 to 11 a.m. Friday in the Jane E. Delong Memorial Hall, 7 Church St., Washingtonville, followed by the funeral at 11 with her pastor, the Rev. Melody Sell, officiating.

Burial will follow in Washingtonville Lutheran Cemetery.

The Sunbury Daily Item