John Hester
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John B. Hester of Houston, Texas, formerly of Darien, Conn. and Erie, Pa. passed away on February 12, 2008 at St. Lukes Episcopal Hospital in Houston. He was 68 years old. Born in Erie, Pa. on November 14, 1939, son of the late Donald Miller Hester and Catherine Denison Hester, he was a 1957 graduate of McDowell High School in Erie and a 1961 graduate of Yale University, majoring in Math and Economics. He was a systems analyst for the Equitable Life Assurance Society from his graduation from Yale until his retirement in 1994. One of his major lifetime interests was bridge. He began playing duplicate bridge at the age of 12. He achieved an ACBL Life Master qualification in the late 60's, participating in many regional bridge tournaments on the east coast. After moving to Houston, he played at the Bayland and Bear Creek community Centers, directing the weekly game for the latter. He also participated in several ABA tournaments. He is survived by his wife of 39 years, Angela Raecke Hester of Houston, Texas, his daughter, Angie Hester Wagner and her husband Chad Eric Wagner of Austin, Texas, his son, John Alexander (Axel) and his wife Elizabeth Landis Hester of Hoboken, N.J., four grandchildren and his elder brother, Donald Denison Hester of Madison, Wis. The burial will be private. Memorial donations may be made to the Down Syndrome Association of Central Texas (DSACT), 3710 Cedar Street, Box 3, Austin, TX 78705; The Yale Alumni Fund, Yale University, P.O. Box 2038, New Haven, CT 06521-2038, or the charity of one's choice. Sign the guestbook at www.GoErie.com/obits
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| Note from Angie Hester, John's wife:
Dear family and friends, It is with great sorrow that we inform you that John passed away at approximately 6:30 PM on February 12, 2008, after spending two months at St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital battling congestive heart failure and complications from surgery in December. After suffering multiple organ failure, the doctors, with our concurrence, decided to stop life support medications. They first took him off the continuous dialysis and gave us some time to say our farewells while he was still somewhat lucid. They then increased the sedation, discontinued all medications and waited for his blood pressure to drop and the flow through the HeartMate pump to decrease to such a level that the alarm went off. The pump was then disconnected and John slipped away very peacefully. He was on the ventilator through the end, thus, he could never speak to us, he was just able to signal with his eyelids. John had requested to be cremated and, with our family and friends spread across the globe, we did not want anyone to feel compelled in any way to undertake a major trip to make an appearance at a funeral or memorial service. Instead, we invited all our friends in the area to drop by our home on Thursday, to celebrate John's life the way he enjoyed it, with good friends, some cocktails and snacks. Angela, Angie and Axel |
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