Esther Louise Knapp

Esther Louise Driapsa Knapp, 95, departed this life on June 26 in the Emergency Department at Highland District Hospital. She was born on the family farm on Potts Hill Road, Bainbridge Ohio, on March 20, 1929. Her parents were naturalized citizens who had immigrated from Czechoslovakia. 

Esther is preceded in death by her husband, Arthur Henry Knapp, her parents Emil Driapsa and Helen Ilona Kraus Driapsa, her brothers John who was killed in WWII, Carl and Joseph Driapsa and sisters Mary Ann (Arthur) Nielsen, Ellen and Kathryn Driapsa. Esther is survived by her two children John Arthur Knapp of Columbus, Ohio and Iva Louise Knapp, MD, FACEP of Eden, NC. 

Esther always enjoyed gardening and grew all her own food. Her yard was always full of flowers that she loved. She was Valedictorian of her 1947 senior class of Bainbridge High School. Esther was a real estate agent for Bob McNeil of Greenfield and became a realtor and had her own company, Knapp Realty with her husband who was an agent. She was a notary for 50 years. She had been a member of the Methodist Church in Bainbridge and the SALT group of the Ross County Sheriff’s Department. Esther was past president of the Bainbridge Senior Citizen’s and was instrumental in getting the mural painted on the Senior Citizen’s building in Bainbridge. She lived on the farm bought by her parents in 1913 in the original log cabin built in 1866. The farm is registered as a Century Farm being in the same family for over 100 years. 

No services will be held. Esther will be buried in the Bainbridge Cemetery with her husband, Arthur. The Smith-Moore-Ebright Funeral Home of Bainbridge will be serving the family.