At age 94 Mary Ellen Wild Woodhouse Munckton is possibly the only retired teacher who remembers Esther Painter Hagstrom. (Esther would be 108 years old if she were alive today.) The Coronado School District hired Mary Ellen in 1942 to write music curriculum for junior high and elementary school students.

Esther not only taught art at Coronado High School but she also directed art curriculum for the entire school district. At the junior high school Mary Ellen gave music lessons for half of the academic year, and Esther provided art instruction the other half.

During the 1940s they joined a movement seeking equal pay for women teachers. “We went door to door and told everyone. We went to the voters. We had a referendum. I don’t remember any resistance,” Mary Ellen said, although the process took more than five years. “We had a wonderful relationship with the school board members and the men teachers.”

Because they shared ideas, classes, offices and break time together, the two women came to know each other very well. “Esther was a dear friend,” Mary Ellen said. “She was popular and well-liked. She was very interested in everybody.” Together they enjoyed theater, picnics on the beach and socializing at the Hotel del Coronado’s dances for military officers.

         Wherever she has traveled throughout the world, Mary Ellen has collected art. Amid her many paintings, prints and other works are three small etchings that she treasures. They were Christmas gifts from her friend and colleague, Esther Painter Hagstrom.