Joyce Cummings Hester

A funeral service will be held Tuesday, November 17, 2015 at 2:00 pm at Hanes Lineberry Sedgefield Chapel in Greensboro. The family will receive friends from 12:30-2:00 pm at the funeral home prior to the service. Interment will follow at Guilford Memorial Park.

A lifelong resident of Greensboro, she was born January 10, 1937, the daughter of the late Theodore G. and Clara Barton Cummings and graduated from Greensboro Senior High School in 1955.

Joyce was a direct descendant of the Cummings and Barton families, and she endeared herself to the Hester and Peddycord families whom she adopted as her own upon her marriage to Gary L. Hester.

Joyce Hester’s life is a love story. It is the story of the saving grace of Jesus Christ whom she accepted in her youth and for whom she lived. The result is that her passing heralds her ultimate promotion to her awakening in Paradise where death has no victory. She attended the Forest Avenue Tabernacle, subsequently Shannon Hills Bible Chapel in Greensboro, for many years. Hers is the story of her lifelong love affair with her childhood sweetheart, best friend, and devoted husband, Gary Hester, whom she married at age 18 when he was just 17. She was his constant companion, his most trusted advisor and life coach, and the one and only love of his life (as he was hers). Together they grew from childhood as a couple and experienced all of life together and in common through 60 years of marriage which they celebrated on February 4, 2015. Hers is the story of this love which was magnified and lavished upon her sons, daughters-in-law, and grandchildren. She loved her grandchildren with an unparalleled zeal and fervor, not only when it was fun and easy, but when great personal cost and sacrifice was required. Her focus was on her family, and she was a supreme encourager and cheerleader. Her ability to bring out the best in others was quietly accomplished, and her pride was in their best, not her role in promoting it.

Joyce Hester possessed rare beauty and even as a teenager demonstrated her talent with people in retail sales positions at well-known Greensboro department, cosmetic, and jewelry stores. Despite her giftedness and aptitude, her greatest achievements would however be the fruit of her devotion to family. If some might consider homemaker a position or a lifestyle, Joyce elevated this career to a science in which she was the ultimate professor. Her hospitality was an automatic byproduct of her skills, personality, and love. She simply radiated love, and this overflowed to friends and others outside her family who were lucky enough to encounter her.

In addition to her parents, her sister, Barbara Cummings Roberts, preceded her in death. She is survived by her husband Gary L. Hester, her two sons Buddy Hester (Cindy) and Darrell E. Hester, M.D. (Karen), her three grandchildren Jonathan Hester (LeAnne), Brandon Hester, and Autumn Hester, her brother John D. Cummings, and her brother-in-law, Charles D. Roberts.

To say she will be missed is a failure of words to express how greatly her love is returned to her by all of us who remain. Gary said it best: “She is the best thing that ever happened to me, and this (her passing) is the worst.” And while this is true under the sun, we look forward to the “Some Golden Daybreak” when we will be reunited.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Mountain Top Youth Camp in care of Shannon Hills Bible Chapel, 900 West Vandalia Road, Greensboro, NC 27406. Online condolences may be made at www.haneslineberryfuneralhomes.com.