ST. LOUIS COUNTY — Esther Haywood, a former state representative and longtime president of the St. Louis County NAACP chapter, died Nov. 16 at Barnes-Jewish Hospital. She was 84.
Haywood, who lived for many years in Bellerive Acres, was a Democratic member of the Missouri House from 2001 through 2008. Before that, she was on the Normandy School Board for 18 years.
Haywood
She also worked for 27 years as a math teacher in the East St. Louis school system, her family said.
“She was inclusive, she was a listener,” said County Councilwoman Rita Heard Days, who was on the Normandy board with Haywood and a longtime friend. “Her kind of leadership will be sorely missed.”
Haywood’s grandson, John Gaskin III, said she and the late Ina Boon worked to revive the county NAACP in the 1990s. She stepped down as president in 2018.
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“She was proud to have gotten business leaders to come to the table” to get more diverse hiring practices in the area, Gaskin said. He said she also worked to get more Black employees in local fire departments.
Gaskin said Haywood grew up on a farm in Arlington, Tennessee, near Memphis and was one of the first Black teachers in the Shelby County, Tennessee, schools, and later moved to the St. Louis area.
She earned a bachelor’s degree from Mississippi Industrial College after attending Lincoln University in Jefferson City. She took graduate courses at St. Louis University.
While in the Legislature, she played a key role in passing a bill making cross-burning a crime in the state. She also passed a measure declaring an annual Rosa Parks Day in Missouri to honor the civil rights icon.
She also was active on various civic issues in the Normandy area. She led a successful effort in 1995 to reopen Normandy Community Hospital, which later closed permanently.
She was a charter member of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority and active in organizations such as the Links, a service group, and Forest Park Forever. She was a member of Murchison Tabernacle CME Church.
Among survivors are two daughters, Angela Haywood-Gaskin and Andreal Hoosman, both of north St. Louis County; six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren.
Visitation will be from 4 to 7 p.m. Sunday at Murchison Tabernacle Church, 7629 Natural Bridge Road, Normandy, and at 10 a.m. Monday at Prince of Peace Missionary Church, 9350 Natural Bridge, Berkeley, followed by the funeral at 11 a.m. Burial will be in Valhalla Cemetery.
The NAACP National Convention will hold its 117th annual gathering in Chicago in July 2026. NAACP President and CEO Derrick Johnson, Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson and other officials made the announcement on Sunday, Aug. 18, on the eve of the Democratic National Convention in Chicago.
