Estell was born March 8, 1923, in Foster, Oklahoma,to Homer Carl and Donnie Grace (Walker) Roberson.
Estell's mother passed away when she was 13 years of age, this was very hard for her as a young girl to have to cope without a mother. A lot of the household responsibilities fell on her. She grew up in Oklahoma where she attended school at Stephens County Public Schools. She was a very good student in spite of her hardships. She had numerous perfect attendance certificates which she kept.
She graduated from 8th grade in May 1938 and on October 28 of 1938 she married the love of her life, Mart Allen Horn in Ardmore, OK. Married at the ages of 15 and 18 they remained married for 64 years until Mart's death in 2002. To this union eight children were born.
Estell moved to Colorado in September 1946, along with her husband, Mart, their three children, and in-laws, Cleve and Maude Horn, and her brother Carl. Mart worked for someone else until the Spring of 1947, when at that time, along with his brother-in-law, Carl, they started farming on their own. They farmed until 1958 when they moved from the farm south of Vilas to the town of Vilas.
Estell and mother-in-law, Maude, cooked for broom corn hands for many years while her husband and brother farmed and raised broom corn. Estell's other five children were born over the next few years, so she was very busy raising her family and keeping up with them. After the last one, she finally got a chance to relax for awhile. She went to work in around 1972 for the Thomas Monahan Broom corn Factory, where she worked for the next 4 years.
Estell is survived by her daughters, Ella Howard of Springfield, CO, Carlene (Tracy) Smith of Brush, CO, and sons James (Virginia) of Wichita, KS, Robert (Debbie) of Comanche, OK, David of Vilas, CO, Boyd of Cripple Creek, CO, and a sister-in-law, Hazel Roberson of Pueblo, CO, 17 grandchildren, 34 great-grandchildren, three nieces and two nephews, and numerous family and friends.
She was preceded in death by her husband, Mart Allen, daughter Janice Lynn, son Roy Allen, father, mother and brother Carl Roberson.
She lived in Vilas for over 53 years and since July 2011 was a resident of the Southeast Colorado Long Term Care Center until her death Dec. 1, 2015.
She was blessed with a green thumb, and raising a big garden was not work for her, but was relaxing and enjoyable. She was also a very good cook and there was always enough food and room for one more at her table.
One of our fondest memories of our Mom will always be of her working in her garden, wearing her bonnet.