Wiley Edward "Eddie" Hester

Wiley Edward Hester was born March 17, 1943 in Wilson, Oklahoma.  He was the fourth and final child born to Robert Barton (RB) Hester, Sr. and Beaulah Fayola (Little) Hester.  Eddie spent all but the first three years of his childhood living on a dairy farm near Fitzhugh, Oklahoma.  He passed away June 9, 2023, in Oklahoma City.

Eddie attended elementary and high school in Fitzhugh and was part of the last graduating class of Fitzhugh Public School in 1961.  He later earned a BS degree from Southeastern Oklahoma University.  He was a lifelong member for the Church of Christ.

He married Myrna Jean Hall, June 15, 1962 in Stonewall, Oklahoma.

Eddie was a man of many talents. He began his career working with his brother, Bob, building houses in and around Ada, Oklahoma.  In 1970, he began teaching construction in Valliant, Oklahoma, where he taught until 1980.  He then worked for Brown and Root in maintenance and construction at paper mills in Valliant, Oklahoma and Ashdown, Arkansas.  In 1981 he moved his family to Longstreet, Louisiana and became a maintenance foreman for an International Paper Mill location in Mansfield, Louisiana.  In 1988, Eddie started work as a maintenance manager for the Weyerhaeuser OSB plant in Elkin, North Carolina.  He retired in North Carolina around March of 2005.  He spent the next seven years restoring six antique Farmall tractors.  Everyone in the area knew Ed as the man who had any tool you many need.

Eddie and Myrna returned to Oklahoma (Edmond) in 2013, to be near their grandchildren.

Eddie is survived by his wife of nearly 61 years, Myrna Jean (Hall) Hester, of Edmond; son, Steven Edward Hester and wife, Cheryl, of Richmond, Virginia, daughter, Myrna Michelle (Hester) Garbrecht and husband, Fred W. Garbrecht, Jr. of Edmond; and grandchildren, Jacob, Taylor and Alyssa Garbrecht of Edmond, Oklahoma and his brother, Robert (Bob) Hester and wife, Louise, of Edmond, Oklahoma.

Eddie was preceded in death by both parents and two sibling; Nolan Lee Hester, Sr., of Ardmore and his sister, Loretta Faye (Hester) Jones of Wichita, Kansas, his nephew, Nolan Lee Hester, Jr and his niece, Judy Lynn Jones.

Services will be private.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Wiley Edward "Eddie" Hester, please visit our floral store.