Donald Lester

Donald Ray Lester was born on November 5th, 1937 in the town of Hamlin, Texas, and left this world on April 15th, 2020. He was the 9th born of ten children born to John Henry and Marjorie Lester. There were five brothers and four sisters. All have preceded him with the exception of two sisters.

He was raised on a Peanut Farm along with most of his siblings. He left the farm at an early age to try his hand at carpentry with the advice of a school friend and his father.

At the age of 17 he met and married Mary Ellen Register (age 15) on July 9th, 1955 in Breckenridge, Texas. Together they moved around chasing carpentry work and having fun ending up making Ranger, Texas their home base. Then in 1958 they welcomed their son which slowed them down a little. Around this time, he had a brother-in-law that introduced him to the oilfield. He worked back and forth between carpentry work and oilfield for the next couple of years. Then in 1960 their daughter made her appearance slowing them down even more. In 1963 another brother-in-law convinced him to move to Hobbs, NM to work in the oilfield there, which they ended up calling home. It only took him a short time to realize his passion was carpentry work. This is where he became known for his framing skills.

While working for various contractors, he decided to start his own cabinet shop (Lester’s Custom Cabinets & Remodel). He worked for the various contractors during the day and worked late nights trying to get his business established, eventually becoming full time self-employed in 1965. Besides building custom cabinets, he built many new homes, did a lot of remodels, along with commercial buildings, Temple Baptist Church was one of his bigger projects.

After the passing of his wife Mary in April of 1988, he married Laverne Beard on November 27th, 1993. Through the years these two shared a wonderful life together. Fishing, traveling, gardening and going to a few car shows after he restored a couple of old cars, until his health started to deteriorate due to Parkinson’s. Don loved fishing, working on old cars and always had joke to tell. He was a hardworking man who took providing for his family very seriously. Anyone that knew him personally called him DUCK.

Left here to cherish his memories besides the many friends, nieces and nephews, are his wife Laverne, his son George Lester (Waynett), daughter Debra Briant (Richard), three stepsons, Paul Henry, Neal Henry (Julie), Jace Hamlettt (Jennifer), two grandchildren Eric Lester (Lucille) and Tausha Chaney (Raine), three step grandchildren, Anthony Henry, Ashley Henry-Ftojcic and Emily Hamlettt, four great-grandchildren, Harlee Lester, Chase Lester, Cash Lester, Bailey Cooper and one great-great grandson on the way, along with two sisters, Lulu Mae Hughes and Jane Watson. In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to (Donate in Tribute-in Memory of Donald Ray Lester) to The Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research at www.michaeljfox.org or a charity of your choice. Due to Covid 19 quarantine there will be a Celebration of Life scheduled at later date.