Ruth Margaret Hillyer Hester

Ruth Margaret Hillyer Hester Ruth Margaret Hillyer Hester was born January 10, 1917, in Rockdale, Milam County, Texas and died March 24, 2004, in Austin, following a severe stroke she suffered on February 29. One of six children of Leroy Hamilton Hillyer and Willie Maude Wilburn, she attended public schools in Rockdale and graduated from San Jacinto High School in Houston. She attended Southwest Texas State Teachers College in San Marcos, where she was a member of the debate team, and later took courses at the University of Texas in Austin. Ruth was employed most of her adult life by the United States government: in the War Department and the Bureau of Printing and Engraving in Washington during World War II, and in the then Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Social Security Administration, locally. She worked for over twenty-five years with Social Security in Austin. She also worked for Hexter Title and Abstract Company in Dallas prior to her service with Social Security. She is survived by her sisters, Ina Mae Dixon of Bryan, Texas, and Lucille Holloway of Austin, Texas, and was preceded in death by her sisters, Lynette Piasecky and Wilma McCoy, and her brother, Leroy H. Hillyer. A strong sense of familial love and loyalty was the undertone of her lifelong ties to her siblings. She was married to James Gordon Hester from 1935 to 1964. Her daughter, Donna Kay Hester, born May 21, 1957, preceded her in death in 1974. She is also survived by her daughter, Carolyn Hester Blume, of Sylmar, California; her son, Walter Dean Hester, of El Paso, Texas; her grandchildren, Karla Blume of Sylmar, California; Amy Blume of Glendale, California; William Dean Hester of Dallas, Texas; Dylan Hester of Austin, Texas; Vaughn Hester of Palo Alto, California; Perry Hester of El Paso, Texas; and her step-grandchildren Leo Blume of Palo Alto, California and Howard Blume of Los Angeles. Ruth was active in her support of the Kerrville Music Festival, the Austin Council for Retarded Children, the Austin State School, the Democratic Party (nationally and in Texas), the University of Texas (the institution), the Texas Longhorns, the Dallas Cowboys and the San Antonio Spurs. She also contributed to such nongovernmental organizations as The Sierra Club, The Nature Conservancy and the World Wildlife Fund. She was a frequent correspondent with local, state and national elected representatives, telling them when they had it right and (more frequently) when they didn’t. Born a Baptist, Ruth was a Christian in the best sense of the word: a person who devotes her life principally to the service of others. During her life, she was responsible for the care and assistance of many friends and family members, young and old. As a part of her deep love of her brothers and sisters, she was especially fond of her twelve nephews and nieces, and kept in touch with them, their spouses and their children throughout her lifetime. She also led and inspired many other people: by example, by the unspoken as well as the spoken word, and by implication as well as inculcation. Part of her attachment to family included pride that her forebears included, for example, early Texas educator and minister John Freeman Hillyer and later author Robert Hillyer. Funeral services will be held in the chapel at Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home on Saturday, March 27, 2004 at 10:00 a.m., and graveside services will be conducted at the I.O.O.F. Cemetery on Main Street, Rockdale, Texas at 1:00 p.m. Honorary pallbearers will be: Hubert Dixon, Ina Rhea Copus, James Holloway, Wilma Lynette Maupin, Nina Thornell, Helen McCoy, Barney McCoy, Ruth Ann Saenz, Bonnibel Hillyer Lang, Loren Hillyer, John Piasecky and Patti Stern. Memorial contributions may be made to Hospice Austin, 4107 Spicewood Springs Road, Suite 100, Austin, Texas; to the American Heart Association or to her alma mater, now known as Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas. Arrangements by Weed-Corley-Fish Funeral Home, 3125 N. Lamar Blvd., Austin, TX 78705 (512) 452-8811. You may view memorials online at wcfish.com