Description

Esther Cordelia (Ross) Wray Hoggan (b. 1897 – d. 1979) was born November 9, 1897 in Kentucky. She was the daughter of William W. Ross (b. 1859 – d. 1920) and Margaret Julia Gaines (b. 1867 – d. 1930). (In the 1910 Census, her first name is shown as Esta. In the 1920 Census, her father’s  first name is shown as Win.) She had two brothers, both born in Kentucky:  Thomas (b. 1893) and Marion W. Ross (b. 1907). 

She married James Garrett Wray in Prescott, Arizona on June 19, 1924. On April 4, 1968 in Los Angeles, California, at age 65, she married William George Hoggan (b. 1893-d. 1972). She is buried in Mount Hope Cemetery in San Diego, California.

Her father, William Wythe Ross, was a prominent druggist and pioneer in Prescott. When she was 17, she was chosen by Arizona Governor Hunt to christen the battleship USS Arizona at its launching in New York City, New York. With her parents, the governor and various Arizona dignitaries she traveled by train to New York City for the christening on June 19, 1915. The USS Arizona was sunk at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.

When the memorial to the USS Arizona was erected in Pearl Harbor in 1977, eighty-year-old Esther was called on to christen the 27' model of the ship. In December of that same year she was the honored dignitary at the dedication of the memorial to the ship's servicemen featuring the ship's 10-ton anchor located at the Arizona State Capital in Phoenix.

Sources: 1910 and 1920 Census Reports; Sharlot Hall Museum Days Past articles by Terry Munderloh— “USS Arizona: The Vessel And The Vassal Who Christened Her” December 6, 2003; “The USS Arizona and the Prescott Connection – Part 1” Jun 12, 2010; “The USS Arizona and the Prescott Connection – Part 2" June 19, 2010, FamilySearch.org.