Esther Mildred McGuire

Esther M. McGuire passed away peacefully in the evening, at the age of 89. She lived in San Luis Obispo most of her adult life, and moved to Green Valley, Arizona in 2020. In 2022, she moved to Tucson. Esther spent her last days with family in El Centro, California.

Esther was never shy and loved to be involved with others from a very young age. She seemed to be the one who organized her sister, Frances, and brother, Victor, into whatever activity she dreamed up, and they followed along, pretty agreeably, at least most of the time.

Her sister, Frances, was three-and-a-half years older than she was and was a good teacher to her through Esther’s younger years. Two years later, her brother, Victor, was born and seven years after that her little sister, Carol, came along. Esther was nine and thought it was great. She became somewhat of a surrogate mother to Carol, as her mother was forty-three at the time.

Esther’s parents, Virgil and Violet Hagg, were sweet, kind, and fun. Esther and her siblings had a very happy childhood, full of love and attention, and grew up in Dallas, Texas.

She was always one to venture into uncommon paths. Esther took shop class in high school and was the one who did minor repairs in the home as she raised her children. However, she did take the traditional female classes of cooking and sewing too, and she made many articles of clothing, draperies, bedspreads, and upholstered furniture. In high school, Esther was involved in literary and drama activities, and never missed a school football game!

Esther was valedictorian and spoke at the high school graduation ceremony. She worked for Sun Oil Company where her father had gotten her a job, and modeled for Neiman-Marcus.

Next was a college degree. Stan McGuire met Esther at Southern Methodist University while they attend school there. After waiting two years for Esther to say yes, they married and went to Scotland where Stan studied theology at the University of Edinburgh. They traveled together and enjoyed the adventure of living in Europe.

After returning to America, Esther had each of her children in a different state as Stan had been assigned to churches across the United States during his process of becoming a minister. Vicki was born in Minnesota, Sheri was born in Connecticut, and then, the family moved to California where David was born.

Esther and Stan and their children moved to San Luis Obispo in 1964. As a young adult, Esther never wanted to work full time because she wanted to be home raising her children. She worked for professors at Cal Poly University, San Luis Obispo, as well as taught summer school three years at her children’s elementary school, helped develop a special course to teach skills for students with special needs, taught Vocational skills to high schoolers with special needs, and worked with some students in their homes. She was a teacher’s aide in special education at the SLO high school as well. Esther finished her college degree which had started as interior design and ended up in education including a teaching credential and later a masters, all while raising her children. In addition, Esther taught English as a Second Language.

At that time, Stan was the minister at the Congregational Church in San Luis Obispo, where the family attended. Esther almost always had something planned for her children and visitors, and for her grandchildren when they visited her; must have been the teacher in her.

Esther was married to Stan for 59 years, until his death in 2014. She missed him very much. Family was always very important to Esther as shown in how she cared for her father, who was sick for many years, and her mother, who lived in her home for eleven years.

Esther had a love of sports, art, decorating, as well as world traveling, reading and socializing with friends. She was a Dallas Cowboys fan through and through.

After a while, an old high school sweetheart, Dale Prior, who had contacted Esther a few years before, started writing letters to Esther. They got together and moved to Arizona in 2020 during the pandemic. He kept her laughing and happy for over eight years until her death. Esther used to say they would take out the trash cans and close the gate to keep the “jalapeño pigs out.” She was loved and will be in the memories of those she touched.

Esther is survived by:

Two sisters-Frances Eleanor Hagg Perkins, Carol Joyce Hagg Kemp (Jim); Children-Vicki Leigh McGuire, Sheri Elizabeth McGuire Huerta (Daniel), David Stanley McGuire (Mauri); Grandchildren-Maya B McGuire, Nicholas Paul Huerta (Amanda), Christopher Glen Huerta (Catalina), Cori Michelle Huerta (Micheal Northam), Conner Bradford McGuire, Cole Grantlin McGuire, Taylor Whitney McGuire; Great grandchildren-Ashley Nicole Huerta, Jacob Talan Means, Julya Sade Means, Liam Charles Means, Elias Henry Huerta, Riley Madison Northam, Jameson Rolland Northam, Owen Daniel Northam.

Esther is preceded in death by: Stanley Leroy Harris McGuire (husband), Victor Leo Darwin Hagg (brother), and Virgil and Violet Hagg (parents).

No services will be held as per Esther’s request.