Essie Elizabeth Nussbaum October 12, 1920 – February 13, 2016. Essie E. (Brown) Nussbaum, 95, peacefully entered into eternal rest on Saturday, February 13, 2016. Born in Chicago Illinois, she was the second daughter of three Brown girls born to the late Fay and Anne (Jacques) Brown.  She grew up in the lovely suburbs of Chicago with memories of the ice cream man’s bells dinging in the summer, walking to the local bookstore to buy a new book, and playing with her little dog Sonny Boy in the yard. In the winter, ice-skating at the Marquette Park was a favorite activity.  Toward the end of 8th grade after being struck with Rheumatic Fever, Essie and her family moved to a farm near Virgie, Indiana.  Essie was home schooled due to her condition and picked up the love of reading and playing the piano.  She would play for her local Christian Church on Sundays. She also found a love for 4-H where her and her sisters became active members. Essie had a whole herd of nine Jersey cows to milk twice a day. As Essie progressed to a young woman, she returned to her city roots and attended The Chicago Business College and became an office manager and secretary in the Chicago Loop for 10 years at the Gerhardt F. Meyne Co. After a trip to California to visit her sister Jeannette and a trip down to Remington, IN to visit her other sister Carol, she met an Army solider named Marvin Nussbaum and fell in love. While playing golf at the Tippecanoe Country Club in Monticello, Marvin proposed to Essie and they were married that fall on October 31, 1953 at St. Elizabeth Episcopal Church in Chicago.  The newlyweds eventually took up residence on the Nussbaum homestead where they began their life.  Once again back on the farm and now in the family poultry business at Fairview Farms, she became a member of the Indiana State Poultry Association.  Essie and Marvin raised two sons, Neal and Kent.  Essie was a happy, colorful woman who was always zipping around town in her numerous activities such as the Dorcas Club, Prairie Arts Council,  Remington Area Historical Society,  Friends of Remington Library, and the American Legion Auxiliary Post 280.  She enjoyed being the den mother for her boys’ Cub Scout troop.

She was a member of the Episcopal Church and also had an extended Christian family with whom she had special fellowship at the Remington Apostolic Christian Church where Marvin’s father Andrew was a minister for many years.  The family bought cottage #4 at Fountain Park Chautauqua in Remington in the fall of 1969 where the family still spends two weeks together every summer.  She loved watching her three grandchildren, Soncha, Jeramy, and Jason play among the park grounds. As the family grew, she took pleasure in walking her great grandchildren Camden and Carrington (children of Soncha and Brock Scheller) to the ice cream stand to enjoy a scoop on those hot summer days in July.  Essie was avidly involved in the Fountain Park Women’s Association and its program committee for 8 years. Essie and Marvin were a joyous couple who loved to bowl and were part owners of the local bowling alley. Also, they were involved in their childrens’ school corporation committee. Essie sadly lost Marvin in March of 1989 from a tragic fall during one of his many fishing trips he loved.  Essie and her boys Kent and Neal along with Neal’s wife Barb continued to run the family chicken hatchery.  As Essie turned 90, she joined Neal and Barb out in Palm Springs, CA where she lived her remaining years in the sunny desert.  Here, she enjoyed visiting with her grandsons Jeramy and Jason, as well as Jason’s wife Dee.  She also enjoyed spending time with her great grandchildren Jacob and Pristine Villereal (Jason and Dee’s children) and Etienne and Lilly Nussbaum (Jeramy’s children).  She took great pride in her three grandchildren and six great grandchildren, leaving a legacy in a beautiful family history book that she created in her retirement years. 

 Visitation for Essie is at Stitz-Clapper Funeral Home of Remington on Saturday February 20th, 2016 from 9 AM (EST) until the time of funeral service at 11 AM (EST). Burial to follow in Remington Cemetery.  Memorial Donations may be made to Fountain Park Chautauqua or the Remington Library.

Share memories and condolences online at www.clapperfuneralservices.com.