Esli Harper Bush Dalferes

DALFERES Esli Harper Bush Dalferes, age 91, died on Monday, February 18, 2008, at Poplar Springs Nursing Center in Meridian, MS. She was preceded in death by her parents Frederick Comstey Bush and Annie Harper Bush of Savannah, GA; her husband Gayle Lindor Dalferes, Sr.; her brother and sister-in-law Henry Harper Bush and Shiela Sprague Bush of New Orleans; a sister and brother-in-law Gladys Barron Bush Eustis and James Norman Eustis of New Orleans; her maternal grandparents Lonnie and Esli Bateman Harper of Byron and Macon, GA; and her paternal grandparents Mr. & Mrs. Henry Clay Bush of Augusta, GA. Esli was born in Savannah, Georgia, on March 17, 1916. She was born without one hip socket, and as a child was taken on a troop train to Atlanta by her mother during World War I to be operated on by Dr. Michael Hoak, the same doctor who treated President Franklin D. Roosevelt. She attended 37th Street Grammar School and graduated from Savannah High School and Draughn's Business College. After her father's death from a heart attack in 1936, the family moved to New Orleans in 1937 to be near her brother. It was here at St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church that she met her future husband, Gayle Lindor Dalferes, a Certified Public Accountant. His parents were Henri Pierre Dalferes of Donaldsonville, LA, and Ray Roberts of Pineville, LA. Gayle and Esli were married on July 16, 1938, in Madigan Chapel on the campus of Newcomb College. During World War II, they were stationed in Orange, TX, while her husband was in the Navy. Upon their return to New Orleans, she volunteered at Baptist Hospital and was on the board of the Protestant Children's Home. She was the founding president in 1953 of the CPA Wives' Club of New Orleans, now called CPA Wives' and CPA Women's Club of New Orleans. In the 1960's, she and a friend, Evelyn Moyer, began a Mardi Gras ball gift business. At the time of her death, she was a lifetime member of the Orleans Club and a 71-year member of St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church. She and her husband were staunch supporters of Tulane University, from which her husband had graduated. He had been the managing partner of the New Orleans office of Haskins & Sells, now Deloitte & Touche. In September 2001, she entered Dunbar Village Nursing Home in Bay St. Louis, MS. In August 2005, as Hurricane Katrina was nearing there, the home was evacuated to Clinton, MS, and then to Meridian, MS, to Poplar Springs Nursing Center where she resided until her death. She is survived by her son, Gayle Lindor Dalferes, Jr. and his wife, Catherine Elizabeth Carl Dalferes, of Pendleton, SC; two grandchildren, Holly Catherine Dalferes of New Orleans, LA, and Russell Edward Dalferes of Atlanta, GA; a sister, Ann Bush Putzel (widow of Dr. Charles L. Putzel III), of Selma, AL; nieces and nephews, children of Sara Ann Bush Guiterman (Mrs. Anthony) of Scottsdale, AZ, Brooke and his wife Robyn, Timothy and Christopher; Evelyn Bush deLaureal (Mrs. Martin) of New Orleans and their children, Martin and his wife Jeanne, David and Jonathan; Elizabeth Bush McClure (Mrs. Brian) of Austin, TX, and their children, Reed, Harrison and Travis; Shiela Bush Brantley (Mrs. Paul) of Montgomery, AL, and their children, Megan and Elizabeth; Henry Harper Bush, Jr., and his wife Lou, of Mercer Island, WA, and their children Mary Courtney and William; James Norman Eustis, Jr., and his wife Ann, of Alexandria, VA, and their children James Norman III and Robert; Charles L. Putzel IV of Prattville, AL, and his son, Charles L. Putzel V; and Margaret Putzel Osburn of Selma, AL, and her children, Robb and Roseanne. The family will receive guests on Monday, February 25, 2008, from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM at Lake Lawn. Services will follow with Dr. Steven Meriwether, pastor of St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church, and Rev. Dr. Gene Huffstutler officiating. Interment will be in Metairie Cemetery following the ceremony. Memorials may be made to Tulane University; Tulane Law School; St. Charles Avenue Baptist Church; Isidore Newman School, New Orleans; or any Hurricane Katrina relief fund. Funeral arrangements are being handled by Lake Lawn Metairie Cemetery and Funeral Home. To sign and view the Family Guestbook, please visit www.lakelawnmetairie.com.