Former Republican state legislator Esther D. Luckhardt was born Esther Hulda Louise Schwertfeger in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. She was the daughter of a Lutheran minister and was educated at St. Stephens Lutheran School and graduated from Horicon High School. She began to work outside the home when she was eighteen and was one of the first women in the state to earn a real estate license. She married Lyle Doughty and with him for over 20 years owned and operated the Doughty Insurance Co in Horicon. In addition to working in the business and raising three children, Esther Doughty was active in a number of civic organizations, and she was a loyal worker for the Republican Party.
In 1960 Doughty died, and Esther continued to operate the family business. In 1962, although she had never before run for public office, she decided to seek the 59th District seat in the Assembly. She was successful and was seated as the only woman in the 1963 Legislature. During her fourth legislative term she married Howard Luckhardt.
Mrs. Luckhardt's committee assignments are listed in biennial editions of the Blue Book; among the most prominent are memberships on Agriculture and Education and vice-chairmanships of the Insurance and Banking and the State Affairs committees. She was also a member of the State Building Commission, the Governor's Commission on the Status of Women, and the Advisory Committee to the Natural Resource Committee on the Perpetuation of the Canada Goose Flock.
A fiscal conservative, Mrs. Luckhardt was a proponent of lower taxation and limited government. Although Mrs. Luckhardt was for many years the only woman in the Legislature and she favored full equality for women, her position on what was referred to as “women's issues” was generally conservative in that she opposed abortion, the ERA, and affirmative action. In 1984 after 22 years in the Legislature Mrs. Luckhardt decided not to see reelection.
