Michael Edmond Lester

From birth, Michael’s curious and adventurous spirit abounded as evidenced in stories his mother tells of him attempting to climb into a gorilla enclosure at the zoo as a toddler, to being on a first name basis with many emergency room staff growing up. His daring outlook led him to experiences in cave diving in the San Antonio,Texas area hill country, and, most recently, in his preparation to dive with great white sharks in South Africa.

He loved and respected his family, cherishing the experiences they passed on to him; especially, his grandparents, parents, and uncles. He eagerly absorbed knowledge from his maternal grandfather and his mother as a young adult and was proud to have paid for his college tuition from investments he made in the stock market. He enjoyed “playing in the clay” with both his father and mother and always spoke fondly of growing up in the weekend Art Show circuit, which the family did in support of his mother who is a talented ceramic artist. He moved to San Antonio to attend UTSA and to be close to his cousins. After graduating from college and (as he used to say) finding his wife, he left Texas and moved to Largo, Florida to be closer to extended family. Further developing relationships with his many cousins as an adult was incredibly meaningful to Michael, more so as those relatives began to have children. He was THE BEST ‘uncle’ because he was kind, affirming, nonjudgmental, lighthearted, and wanted to share many of the things he loved growing up with them. His steadfast love and devotion to his wife was remarkable. He was highly regarded as one of the ‘favorite spouses’ by several friends because of his endless support, encouragement, and love for his wife. He often told her that making her happy was his sole purpose and goal in life. The depth of sadness felt for his unexpected loss is only eased by the memory of how fiercely he lived and loved.

At the end of his life, Michael balanced his time between the life he built in Florida with employment as a project manager with PODS, volunteering with the Masons, Shriners, Rotary and Clearwater Jazz Holiday, engaging with the next generation of nephews and cousins as they were born, and spending as much quality time as he could with his parents, sister, dog-daughter, and wife. He lived each day as though there wasn’t another promised, and the grief of his loss will ripple through the Tampa Bay community.

Michael is survived by his wife, Melissa Honeycutt; parents, Samuel and Patricia Lester; sister, Sarah Lester; and numerous aunts, uncles, cousins and nephews. He is preceded in death by his paternal grandparents, Hasset and Olene Lester and his maternal grandparents, Walter and Sarah McNamara.

Michael volunteered actively with the Pinellas Shrine Club and was a member of Egypt Shrine in Tampa.

In lieu of flowers, please honor him with a donation to https://donate.lovetotherescue.org/MichaelLester.