John’s story continues:
DD’s wife, Eddy, died tragically of a tubular pregnancy in 1933. DD remarried to his second wife, Joan. Bette and Dan commuted to Worley grade school in Canton. DD was a good and active polo player. There was a polo field as well as a nine-hole golf course between Waynesburg and Magnolia. My mother, Augusta, was riding Pete, DD’s favorite polo mount, back to the mule barn after a polo game when tragically, a drunk driver hit her. Augusta’s leg was severely broken and Pete perished in the crash.
Later, continuing his equestrian interests, DD formed the Waynesburg Fox Hunt and developed a pack of foxhounds. This led to some great English sport on the company property, with many find attendant social activities. DD was both master and huntsman of the fox hunt and his son Dan and I served him as whips when we were not in school.
JB and Augusta divorced in 1933. Augusta remarried Dr. George Hackett and moved to Canton. John B. Jr. and Ann lived with the Hacketts in the winter and attended Belle Stone School. They spend weekends and summers with their father in Waynesburg. JB had a pack of beagle hounds, regularly attending field trials, and raised and trained at least six field champions. He kept his children supplied with ponies and horses, as JJ had done for his children. JB was an excellent billiard player and trapshooter. During his single years, he had a billiard table at the big house. He taught me and we often played, but I could never match his skills. During my Navy service at Notre Dame, I gained some notice by winning for the Navy a key match of 38 (a combination game of pool and billiards played on a pool table) in a contest with some Marine trainees. When JB remarried in 1943, the table when back to the pool hall in Waynesburg.
The Esteps were active socially, avid golfer, had horses and rode with the hunt, and followed JJ’s example by wintering in Florida.
