Marie Jester

Marie Jester, age 96 and the wife of the late Dr. David Jester of Paris, passed away peacefully and went home to be with the Lord on June 28.
Marie Jean Hans Jester was born Aug. 12, 1929, in Shelbyville, Indiana to the late Lucille and Ralph Hans.
She had one beloved sister, the late Hulda Mae Reichenbach with whom she shared a great love of storytelling, theatrics, and laughter.
Marie received her bachelor’s degree from Georgetown College in 1951.
During the summers, she did volunteer work teaching families in the mountains of eastern Kentucky followed by mission work in the San Francisco Bay area under the North American Mission Board.
She met her husband, David, at Georgetown College and they married four days after graduation. Marie also earned a master of arts degree in Religious Education from Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville.
She and David moved to Brooklyn, New York where she worked in the library of Brooklyn College while David completed his doctorate of education degree at Columbia University.
In 1957, Marie and David were appointed by the International Mission Board to the Baptist College in Iwo, Nigeria, where Marie also taught. Marie also worked as a teacher and counselor at Niger Baptist College before returning to the United States.
As an accomplished educator, Marie worked as Dean of Women at Campbellsville University and Georgetown College. In 1981, they moved to Plainview, Texas where Marie served as First Lady of Wayland University.
They left Wayland in 1987 and Marie worked as the supervisor of adult education in the Killeen ISD in Texas and taught English and reading skills at South Texas College in McAllen.
Marie and David retired in Louisville, where she was President of the Professional Employer Organization and served in the Women’s Missionary Union at Hurstbourne Baptist Church. Marie and David later relocated to Waco, Texas to be near family followed by another relocation to Paris, in 2023, also to be with family.
Marie was preceded in death by husband David Linville Jester; mother and father-in-law Daisy and William Linville Jester; sister Hulda Mae Reichenbach; brothers-in-law Bill Reichenbach and Duane Denton; great-grandson Woodson Czirr; and nephew Robert Marshall.
She is survived by daughters Lisa Anne Jester, Daneta Marie Sylvester and Karina Lynette Deaver; sons-in-law Scott Brumley, John Deaver and David Sylvester; grandchildren Ashley Czirr, Andrew Sylvester and Alexandra Deaver; great-grandsons West, William and Wyatt Czirr; Scott Brumley’s daughters Kelsey Brumley and Lindsay Brumley Everman, her husband Craig Everman and their infant daughter Elizabeth Shelva Everman; sister and brother-in-law Betty Sue and Bill Darrow, her children David Denton and Anne Denton Gray and their spouses, children and grandchildren; nieces Patricia Yount and Diana Marshall and their children and grandchildren; nephew Mike Marshall and his children and grandchildren; and her late nephew Robert Marshall’s daughter and grandson.
Marie would often say to her daughters when they were making a happy memory, “Look girls! We’re making a rainbow!” May we all strive to make rainbows in our lives and in the lives of others.
Further end-of-life plans and details are yet to be determined. Cards and notes may be sent to Lisa Jester, 206 College Road, Paris, KY 40361. Donations in her honor may be made to: Zion Baptist Church, Att: Missions Fund, 3740 W. County Road 200 South, North Vernon, IN 47265.