It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Esther Marie Paap on February 9, 2025. Esther was born on February 25, 1949, in Mobridge, SD, to Clifford and Marie Sorenson and grew up in Rapid City, SD. She wanted to be a nurse from an early age and remained passionately committed to nursing throughout her long and varied career. She believed she was meant for a life of service and dedicated herself to helping others.

She attended nursing school in Colorado Springs, CO, graduating in 1970, and later obtained specialty training in intensive and cardiac care. She then moved to Pierre, SD, where, despite her young age, she was appointed to manage a critical care unit on her own, a challenging but formative experience. She moved to Santa Fe, NM, in 1981 with her two young daughters and held several positions at St. Vincent Hospital over the next two decades, including cardiac and critical care management roles.

She met the love of her life, Roy Paap, in 1986 and they married three years later. In 1998, they moved to Flagstaff, AZ, where she fulfilled a lifelong dream of teaching nursing. When they returned to New Mexico in 2004, she worked as a critical care nurse at the Heart Hospital and Presbyterian Medical Center in Albuquerque. After retirement, she experienced nursing from the other side when she underwent a double lung transplant in 2017. Through this and other health challenges in recent years, she showed incredible fortitude and determination.

Esther was warm, generous and kind with everyone she met. She was deeply dedicated to friends and family and was the driving force behind countless family dinners, holiday celebrations and card games. Family was very important to her. She was also curious, playful and creative. She wrote poetry throughout her life and produced a family Christmas play every year, for which she maintained an ever growing collection of costumes. She was a gifted gardener and always kept a beautiful home. She loved hiking and camping and made a bountiful picnic. Her loss will be deeply felt among all who knew her.

Esther is survived by her husband, Roy Paap; her daughters, Holly (Thomas Gray) Myers and Elizabeth (David) Wofford; her granddaughter, Jillian Wofford; her sister, Katie Walton; and five nieces and nephews.

A memorial service and celebration of Esther's life will be will be held at the family home, 1753 Dietz Loop NW. ABQ., NM. 87107, on Sunday, May 25, 2025 at 3:00 pm, with a reception following. Please RSVP to hmyers999@gmail.com or call 323-898-7283.