Esther Brake, 77, Westminster teacher

Esther Brake supported her husband wholeheartedly when he accepted a job as football coach at The Westminster Schools.

The Brakes decided it was a good move for Charles Alfred Brake Sr., then coach at Morgan County High School in Madison, to move to Westminster. Plus, the job came with a perk.

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Esther Brake was ‘kind of a superwoman,’ her son said. She began as a dorm proctor.

Westminster officials enticed the Brakes with a guest house at the old Glenn Mansion, which at the time was a school dormitory. The Brakes were allowed to live in the guest house in exchange for serving as boys’ dorm monitors, said her son, Charles Brake Jr. of Atlanta. He was 9 or 10 at the time.

“It was a great place to grow up,” her son said. “She and my dad were very much a team. It was his career that brought them to Westminster, but she made it her career as well.”

Esther Brake, 77, of Atlanta died Sunday of an infection at Belmont Gardens in Sandy Springs. The funeral will be 11 a.m. Thursday at Northside United Methodist Church. H.M. Patterson and Son, Arlington Chapel, is in charge of arrangements.

Born in Waverly Hall, Mrs. Brake attended LaGrange College, where she was crowned “Miss May Queen” and “Miss LaGrange School.” She received a bachelor’s of arts degree and taught in Muscogee County public schools before marrying.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Mrs. Brake found time to raise a family and operate a day care center in Sandy Springs. At Westminster, she rose from dorm proctor to full-fledged teacher, carving out a decades-long career at Westminster just like her late husband, who coached the Wildcats from 1956 to 1973 and won the 1971 state title.

When Mrs. Brake retired, she ran the school’s computer lab. Initially, she was hired to oversee the campus student center. When some boys were caught playing poker, Mrs. Brake taught them how to play bridge.

“My mom was always active when it came to taking care of the boys,” her son said. “She was always taking care of someone, sometimes whether you wanted her to or not. She was kind of a superwoman. She could do everything. When my sisters were on the swim team, she’d get up at 4:30 in the morning and take them to practice.”

Other survivors include two daughters, Robin Gaston of Evans and Mary Neal Lockwood of Atlanta; two sisters, Shirley White and Billy Joy Temple, both of Blakely; a brother, Larry McLemore; and four grandchildren.