Esther has been Katherine's maid and loyal friend for nearly 20 years. Known for her ditzy comic relief, Esther can never quite get anything right. When the doorbell rings, she's usually missing, so Kay has to answer it herself. She even accidentally started a fire in the kitchen that nearly burned the place down. But Esther's entire life appears to be dedicated to loyally serving Katherine.

Only once in 1989 did Esther leave Kay's employ when she was lured away by the newly rich widow Nina Webster Chancellor. Esther had been caring for Nina's baby son Phillip and loved him, and if she left the Chancellor mansion with Nina she could continue be with him. Nina also promised her she would never have to wear her maid's uniform again, she would help Esther find a guy, and they would be more companions that employer/employee. One evening when Nina and Esther were out on the town, Esther met a big guy named Tiny in a bar. She and Tiny had a one-night stand, but Esther was sure it was love. When he never contacted her again, she realized all she knew about him was his nickname Tiny and that he was a plumber. Nina wasn't keeping any of her promises, so Esther tried to get her job back with Kay, but Kay had hired a couple to replace her named Robert and Shirley.

Katherine's husband Rex's former cellmate, Clint Radison, found a woman named Marge Catrooke working at a diner who was a dead ringer for Kay. He and his cohorts Morey and Lil who went to work for Kay as houseman Robert and maid Shirley, trained Marge to pass for Kay, then held captive Kay and Esther, who just happened to be with Kay when they kidnapped her. Meanwhile Marge sold Chancellor Industries, drove Rex away, and he filed for divorce, intending to marry Jill. Clint was now free to liquidate the rest of Kay's assets. But son Brock made a surprise return from his missions in India. Brock, with the help of Mitchell Sherman, discovered the ruse, and rescued Kay and Esther, who discovered she was pregnant by Tiny. Marge got to know Kay and also tried to help her to get away. Clint and his cohorts went to prison, but Marge was released as an innocent dupe, thanks to Katherine's intervention. Once her baby was born, she was named Kate, after Esther's dear friend and employer Katherine. Kay and Rex were reunited and re-married, and would have lived happily ever after if it were not for Esther's poor choice in men. Esther answered a personal ad and met con man Norman Peterson. In an effort to impress him she posed as lady of the manor, and Kay and Rex went along with it and dressed up as her servants. Norman coerced Esther into convincing Kay to include her in her will and to marry him. Kay and Rex were suspicious so arranged a fake wedding. Then, not content to wait for Kay to die to be rich, Norman was caught by Rex breaking into the estate safe. Rex was shot and killed in the altercation, leaving Kay devastated! Norman was arrested for murder and Esther has since been forgiven and named in Katherine's will. Esther's daughter Kate later attended boarding school courtesy of Katherine Chancellor.

Jill Abbott and Kay Chancellor have hated each other since the days when Jill stole Kay's husband Phillip. The next chapter in their saga began with Jill finding a deed and letter declaring Phillip's love and giving her the Chancellor Estate. Jill used these and the crossed out Chancellor divorce property settlement to sue Kay in court, won 1/2 of the estate, and moved back in permanently where she and Esther fought on a daily basis.

Esther is quite the cook, but in recent years has gotten into health foods, and has been torturing Kay, Brock, Jill, and Kay's friends with them instead. Kay puts up with it, but occasionally insists Esther cook "real food." Esther has gotten "online" with her laptop, and her screen name is Clean Queen. Esther's daughter Kate is currently attending boarding school courtesy of Kay Chancellor.

Years later Kay had a stroke when she realized that the baby she gave up many years ago was now her own worst enemy Jill! Esther and Jill were left to care for Kay who could not move or talk from the stroke. As Kay got better, she didn't let Jill know, testing her to see if just maybe she might care for her like a mother. But eventually Kay showed Jill she was nearly back to normal, and Jill was able to begin to come to grips with how she really feels about Kay being her mother. Jill and Kay fought over the disruption of having Esther around, so Kay and Esther moved into the Genoa City Hotel to give Jill some space. But both later moved back to the mansion.

Esther became a trained alcohol abuse councilor after Katherine fell off the wagon again. With the help of Esther, Jill and Judge Arthur Hendricks (and a post death visit from Rex and young Phillip) they were able to get Kay to check in to rehab and Kay is now back living at the Chancellor Estate clean and sober.

The yearly Charity Gala, organized in 2008 by Sabrina and Victoria under the watchful eye of Kay Chancellor, was in full swing with all the Genoa City regulars attending in cocktail party attire. Devon and Ana entertained singing with a chorus. Chloe chose the occasion to announce her pregnancy by Cane just as Cane was proposing to Lily. Lily insisted on a prenatal paternity test, and when it came back not ruling out Cane as the father, she gave Cane back his ring and told him he should marry the mother of his child instead. Cane gave Chloe the ring and moved her into the back room of his house, claiming to be doing it for the child. Chloe began flaunting the ring and her pregnancy with a Chancellor heir all around Genoa City. Cane and Chloe were married by a Justice of the Peace. His mother Jill and Grandmother Kay decided to make the best of it since Cane had just been named CEO of Jabot and renamed their engagement party to a wedding reception. Chloe played sick to not attend, but Cane discovered her lie. But when Chloe showed up with Cane, Esther was shocked to find that Chloe was actually her daughter Kate! Even Kay was amazed, remembering Kate as a blonde, 30 pounds overweight, with glasses.

Chloe told Cane that her father rejected her mother before she was born. She had this worn dirty stuffed giraffe named Elmer she carried around until her mother changed out her room when she became a teen throwing out everything she loved, replacing it with a white bear. She told how she was stuck in boarding school and was ashamed of her mother being a maid. She had legally changed her name before her arrival in Genoa City. Cane is mostly tolerating Chloe and still pining for Lily. Chloe told Esther she would never get over her resentment for being shipped off to boarding school all her life, but Esther said she did it for her own good, so she wouldn't end up like her. Chloe told her that a guy who was selfish, arrogant, and unfaithful broke her heart (obviously Billy) and she would never love anyone else again, including Cane. From flashbacks it is obvious that Billy is the father of Chloe’s baby and that she set up their first meeting in New York City. They had an affair, she got into his email, discovered that he cheated on her breaking her heart, then she stalked him. Yet Billy was still her occasional “booty call” up until she discovered she was pregnant. Billy confronted Chloe accusing her of just wanting to bag a Chancellor.

Esther was very concerned about Kay Chancellor, as signs suggested she was drinking again. One night Kay disappeared and Jill and Nikki went looking for her. Actually Kay was secretly taking Marge to rehab, but they were in a bad car accident on the way. Kay was thrown clear, but Marge was found dead in the car by Nikki and Jill. Not knowing about Marge's reappearance, they assumed it was Kay's body. A funeral was held, and several people from Kay's past attended; her son Brock, her late grandson Phillip's wife Nina, her step-son and daughter Danny and Gina, her attorney Mitchell, and her old friends Liz Foster, Traci and Ashley, and Dina Mergeron. Daniel sketched a picture of Kay which was framed on her casket.

Kay's will was read, and Brock received one percent of her billion-dollar-plus assets in trust to continue his good works and was named Chairman of the Chancellor Foundation. Her step-children Gina and Danny received a one-half of one percent in cash. Esther received one tenth of one percent and Kay’s half of the estate, so that Esther could live her life in financial freedom. Nikki received all of Katherine's jewelry, including a family heirloom emerald and diamond ring given to Kay by her mother. Grandchildren Cane, Billy, McKenzie, and Phillip received one-quarter of one percent in trust. Katherine left one fifth of one percent to Amber, so that she and Daniel could pursue their artistic goals, and gave Amber the sole rights to her memoirs, which Jill had forbidden her to publish. Jill was left the remainder of the assets, all but five percent of Kay's Jabot stock. That five percent, in addition to a Ming vase, was left to Gloria as both were given to her by John Abbott. Jill was livid, knowing that the Chancellors now were no longer majority stockholders. Chloe announced that her baby was going to be a girl and her middle name would be Katherine.

Esther and Jill had a rough time getting used to being housemates rather than maid and owner, but Esther held her ground. Meanwhile Kay was found by Marge's friend Murphy lying by the creek near the accident. He took her home to his house trailer and nursed her back to health. But Kay's memory is fuzzy, and she is trying to be Marge, working at the diner, and trying to remember her life. One day Kay fell on the ice at Murphy's, hit her head, and when she came to, partial memories began returning. She suddenly declared to Murphy that she was actually Katherine Chancellor. Murph didn't believe her but found the obituary with a photo that looked like Marge and the story of the accident which occurred near where he found her. Sad that it meant his friend Marge was probably dead instead, he agreed to accompany her to the mansion. Murphy felt uncomfortable there and left Kay expecting to be welcomed from the daughter she remembered as Jill. But Jill refused to believe Kay with her very little memory intact, called the police and had her thrown in jail. While visiting his mother in jail, Kevin Fisher met the woman posing as Kay. He believed her, and Kevin and Jana, joining forces with Amber and Daniel, bailed her out of jail and hired Michael to represent her to prove that she is Katherine.

Meanwhile, Gina's ex-husband Clint got out of prison and returned to Genoa City plotting to get some of the Chancellor fortune. Clint found out that Katherine was assumed dead, and that Esther inherited one tenth of one percent of Kay's assets and Kay’s half of the mansion. But he also heard the rumor that it was Marge who was killed, and Kay is trying to get everyone to believe she is still alive, so he instructed his cohort Roger Wilkes to woo Esther and marry her as fast as possible or he may have to do something to keep Kay from "coming back from the dead". Clint kidnapped Kay just before the DNA results were due. Kay told Clint that she remembered kneeing him in the groin after she was freed from the first kidnapping, which temporarily convinced Clint that she was Kay and not Marge. But surprisingly, the DNA results between Kay and Jill did not match - which means Kay and Jill are not mother and daughter after all? Then Roger and Esther's marriage plans were delayed when her daughter went into labor at the Abbott cabin at Twin Lakes and nearly died from loss of blood and septicemia. But a week later with Chloe and baby doing fine, Roger surprised Esther with a Justice of the Peace and impromptu wedding in her hospital room. The next day Chloe admitted to Esther that the baby was not Cane's. Then when Billy showed up, Esther realized he was Cordelia's father. Unknown to them, Cane contacted Michael to get custody of Cordelia, and Billy contacted Rafe to see what his rights were too. Since Cane was divorcing Chloe and they had nowhere to go, Esther brought Chloe and her granddaughter home to the estate, and Jill offered them space in her wing so she could be closer to her granddaughter. Jill gave Esther the results of Paul's investigation proving Roger was a bigamist who made a living marrying rich women, but Esther would not believe it. Meanwhile back at the hotel, Kay's captor Annie was reading Katherine's book and admiring her. Kay began to convince her that she was really Katherine, and that Annie was being used by Clint and Roger - to which Annie admitted that she was the first Mrs. Roger Wilkes. Roger left the estate, and Esther followed him to the hotel where they were holding Kay. Roger walked in on an untied Kay, who had just convinced Annie to leave with her. Esther walked in and joyfully realized Kay was still alive. The three women were about to leave as Clint arrived, stopped and threatened them. Meanwhile, Amber and Kevin realized that the first letter of every sentence of the note "Marge" left when she disappeared spelled out CLINT. Clint met Amber hoping to convince her that he had witnessed Kay leaving town. As Clint left the bar, Gina spotted him and warned Amber and Kevin that he was her dangerous scammer ex-husband. Kevin and Amber tracked him down to the hotel where he was holding Kay and Esther, but Annie bluffed them into leaving. Kevin returned later, and Clint captured him too. Clint, Annie and Roger left Kay and Esther in the hotel room with a bomb rigged to go off, drugging and framing Kevin for it, and taking him along locked in the trunk of the car. Amber and Gloria arrived in time to untie Kay and Esther, the bomb went off, but no one was seriously hurt. Thanks to the jolt of the bomb blast, Kay’s memory returned, and her memory of Nikki calling drunk from Mexico when she thought Victor was dead managed to convince Nikki that she was really Kay. Together they connived to get a bit of Jill’s hair for another DNA test but it too proved no match to Kay’s DNA. Another DNA test proved that the body in the grave was not a match to Jill either.

In April of 2009, after Brock let her know that Katherine was alive, Mac showed up at the Chancellor mansion just in time for Billy's marriage to Chloe. It had also just been disclosed by blood tests that Jill was not Katherine's daughter after all, which meant that Billy and Mac were not related either. It was quite obvious that both had never gotten over each other, and Billy only married Chloe because they had a baby together. They were later divorced, and Chloe and her daughter Delia moved back to the Chancellor Estate. Esther enjoys having them so close after all those years apart and dotes on her granddaughter Delia.

Eighty year old Katherine married Patrick “Murph” Murphy in the Chancellor garden in a service officiated by her son Brock. Nikki was matron of honor, Victor best man (because Kevin was still locked up), Amber and Mac were bridesmaids. Ana sang “Let Met Call you Sweetheart”, and the catering was by Joe’s Diner, complete with chicken nuggets. Amber designed Kay’s white lace suit dress, and Nikki caught the bouquet. Nina showed up in time to catch Jill arriving drunk, and locked her in a closet before she could make a scene. Lauren arrived soon after, and let Jill out, but Cane made her sit down and shut up during the ceremony. But afterward Billy and Cane had to drag Jill out while she raved at Kay.

In late 2001, Chloe's daughter Delia was diagnosed with acute myelogenous leukemia, and needed a bone marrow transplant to recover. Everyone in Genoa City was tested with no matches, and Victoria and Jack were intent on finding Billy to help, hoping that he could save her life. Chloe wouldn’t leave her side, and Esther tried to take care of Chloe.