Joan Esther Anderson-Whorton

On Thursday, September 22, 1949, Ralph and Ophelia Anderson received an unexpected blessing. They named her Joan Esther. This their twelfth child, born unto them during their change in life, became their helper, caretaker, and confidant.

Led by the example and teachings of her parents, Esther accepted Christ early in life and was baptized at Second Baptist Church in 1955 by Rev. L.P. Phillips. She served diligently in the Starlight Band, the G.A. Girls, B.Y.P.U. (later called B.T.U.), Junior Ushers Youth Choir, Gospel Chorus, Young Adult Choir, Senior Choir, Missionary Society, Social Committee, and taught Sunday school. She also worked as the church office secretary for many years and in any other capacity she was needed.

In the last years of her life she found fulfillment and renewed purpose as a Senior Companion, serving from 2014 to 2019, and through which, from 2016, she volunteered at Houston Hospice where she nurtured, comforted, ministered to, and prayed for patients, staff, and fellow volunteers alike.

She was preceded in death by her husband Clifford, her parents Ralph and Ophelia, and sisters and brothers Ralph Jr., Peggy, James “Pig,” Vernon, Nurlean “Nell,” Maurice Curtis “M.C.,” Helen, Lizzie, Joe, John “Cookie,” and Willie.

She leaves those she loved, her daughter Shantell, grandchildren Danté, Nia, Jai, Kai, and Asia, great-granddaughter Jaide, niece Darcell Wills, sister Barbara Jean Fowler, and a host of nieces, nephews, and friends.