Esta (Redden) Winchester was born in Prescott, Yavapai County, Arizona Territory, on June 15, 1900, the daughter of Esta Maria (Miller) and Monroe Redden. She was born in the old Governor’s Mansion because her relative was a tenant there at the time. Her mother died eight days after her birth. She and her sister, Rachel, were raised by her grandmother, Rachel (Wiebrecht) Miller on the Miller Ranch in Skull Valley. Esta is the grandniece of Sam Miller, for whom Miller Valley is named.
Because there were no schools in Skull Valley, Rachael moved to Prescott to send her grandchildren to school and allow them to be near their father, Monroe Redden. Young Esta attended Washington School and graduated from Prescott High School, on June 1, 1920. As a teenager in 1917, she entered the Fifth Annual Northern Arizona Fair. She received the award for the “Best Divinity Candy,” according to the Weekly Journal Miner, dated October 24, 1917. After graduating from high school, Esta attended Lamson's Business College in Phoenix.
Esta was the secretary for the National Forest Service and for Dr. S. H. Robinson in Prescott and for Dr. Northrup in Phoenix. She married Josiah Winchester, a salesman, on February 24, 1924, at 166 Garden Street, Prescott. Their daughter, Doris Catherine (Winchester) Werring, was born November 16, 1927, in Prescott.
A loving, caring wife, mother and friend, Esta lived all her life in Arizona. She belonged to the Christian Science Church in Prescott and the Unity Church in Phoenix. She was a past noble grand of Western Star Rebekah Lodge, I. O. O. F., and a member of the First Families of Arizona and of the Rattlers.
Esta died on June 8, 1982, in Peoria, Arizona, and was buried in Mountain View Cemetery, Prescott.
Her grandmother, Rachel (Wiebrecht) Miller and her sister Rachel (Redden) Koontz are also represented in the Territorial Women’s Memorial Rose Garden.
Donor: Doris C. Werring
Photo Located: Yavapai People & Family Collection – Werring Family Collection
Updated: 11/7/2015, Gretchen Hough Eastman
