Esther Schiesser Weaver

Esther was born Esther Marie Schiesser on July 4, 1925 to Louis and Anna Schiesser. She grew up in Essex, Maryland where her family lived above the bar that her father owned and operated. Esther waited tables in the bar as a teenager. After graduating high school, she wanted to become a dietician. However, the family didn’t have enough money for her to attend college, so she entered nursing school and became a registered nurse. In 1948, she met and married Weymouth Neil McDaniel and subsequently had three children, Barbara, Wayne, and Debra. In 1965, Weymouth died of Leukemia. Esther resumed working as a nurse at the Greater Baltimore Medical Center where she was liked and respected. In 1969 she married Warren E Weaver and moved to Richmond, Virginia. The remarriage combined her family with Warren’s four children, and Esther became a mother to Julie Hope Weaver, who was only four years old. She supported Warren in his role as Dean of Pharmacy at the Medical College of Virginia.

Faith and family were recurring themes in Esther’s life. In 1972, she and Warren had a rebirth of their Christian faith. Esther had always been a Christian, but now her faith and devotion to the Lord deepened. Esther and Warren became strongly involved with the Full Gospel Business Men’s Fellowship International and their local church. Esther also faithfully visited and ministered to women inmates in the city prison every week for years. In addition, she moved her developmentally and intellectually disabled daughter, Debra, from The Rosewood Center in Maryland to a Richmond nursing home to have her nearby. Thereafter, Esther faithfully visited Debra every day for the final 20 years that Debra lived. She and Warren visited Israel several times to walk in the steps of Jesus. Esther’s life-long interest in nutrition was realized when she and Warren sold Shaklee vitamins at cost. They wanted to help people live a healthier lifestyle as an alternative to traditional medicine.

Esther was preceded in death by her husband Weymouth N. McDaniel, husband Warren E. Weaver, son Wayne N. McDaniel, daughter Debra K. McDaniel, mother Anna Mary Schiesser, father Louis G. Schiesser, brothers Charles Schiesser, Louis Schiesser, Fredrick Schiesser, and sister Mary Hart.

She is survived by daughters Barbara M. Adair and Julie Fortner, several stepchildren and multiple grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Interment will be Friday, November 5 at 1 PM at Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, 200 E. Padonia Rd, Lutherville-Timonium, MD 21093.