Esther M. Baker Stoba was born in Urbana on September 17, 1916,
the daughter of Hanse E. and Stella Mae Baker. She attended Urbana
elementary schools, then moved to Chicago to finish her last 2
years of high school and graduated from Englewood High School,
Class of 1935. She returned to Urbana and attended the University
of Illinois.
In 1943, she moved to Oakland, California where she joined the
American Red Cross. She was stationed at Ft. Huachuca, Arizona
from where she was shipped overseas to the southwest Pacific.
At the end of her tour of duty, she returned to the States and
after completing Nurse's Training at Manhattan State Hospital
in New York, she returned to Urbana and worked as Supervisor of
Nurses, in the Obstetrics Department at Mercy Hospital; later
worked at Carle Hospital, and then returned to Covenant (formerly
Mercy) until her retirement.
For several years, Ms. Stoba served on the Community Development
Commission. She spearheaded the movement to boycott what might
have been an Adult Bookstore on the corner of Goodwin and University
Avenue in Urbana. She and her group were successful in the effort.
Ms. Stoba's hobbies include reading and cooking.
Esther Mae Baker Stoba
)
denotes original charter members of the Champaign County Section
of the National Council of Negro Women.