Arriving in China as a single woman, thirty years of age, Esther Tappert taught English at Ginling College, a Christian women's college in Nanking, for three years before returning to the United States. Esther described her role at Ginling as "trying to make good women who can read and write English and save China."
Returning to Ginling in 1933 after receiving an M.A. in Education from Yale, Esther continued teaching English there until the summer of 1937. When the Japanese invasion of Nanking prevented her return from a vacation excursion to western China, she spent the next two academic years teaching English at Chungking University, a Chinese provincial government university. This proved to be a positive and liberating experience for Esther. The only Westerner on the faculty at Chungking University, she felt useful and respected. Reflecting during this period on her years at Ginling, Esther wrote to her family: "no wonder I am death on women's institutions with their petty spites and trivial concerns..."
After leaving Chungking in 1940 to return to the United States, Esther became engaged to Ralph Mortensen, a widowed Lutheran missionary who was working for the American Bible Society in China. She completed work for her doctorate at Yale and sailed for Shanghai in November 1945. Esther was married to Ralph Mortensen in January, 1946 and her primary role for the next several years was that of missionary wife. Following the Communist takeover, the Mortensens were held in Shanghai until January, 1953 because of suspicion regarding Ralph Mortensen's activities.
From the guide to the Esther Tappert Mortensen Papers, 1903-1972, (Yale University Divinity School Library)
