ESTHER GARDNER LANCASTER
Oct. 7, 1927-Feb. 9, 2015
Esther Gardner Lancaster, 87, Pikeville, went to be with the Lord and Savior Monday at Kitty Askins surrounded by her family.
Funeral service will be held at 7 p.m. Wednesday at Free Chapel Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church, 3302 N.C.111 North.
The Reverends Dock Hobbs and Jimmy Forehand will officiate.
Committal will be private at Pikeville Cemetery.
There will be a time of visiting and sharing with the family following the service at the church and other times at 152 Lancaster Road.
Surviving is her husband of 70 years, J. R. Lancaster; a son, Steve Lancaster (Gail), of Pikeville; a daughter, Theda Edge, of Goldsboro; a daughter-in-law, Pam Lancaster of Middlesex; grandchildren, Stephanie Lancaster Jones (Curtis), Jay Lancaster, Marcus Bailey, Gabriel Lancaster (Christina), Stacie Edge Moore (Rickie), Will Lancaster and Leah Lancaster; six great- grandchildren; sisters, Arlene Gardner of Pikeville, Betty Jean Corbett (Donald) and Linda Casey (Ben), both of Goldsboro; brothers-in-law, Jimmy E. Grantham of Goldsboro and Leslie Davis of Pikeville; and sister-in-law Anna Phipps Garner of Goldsboro.
She was a beautician at Esther and Gail Beauty Shop.
She was a graduate of the School of Cosmetologist in Greenville.
Esther was a devoted member of Free Chapel Pentecostal Free Will Baptist Church for 60 years, where she was a choir director and taught Sunday school for a number of years and was very active in the Ladies Auxiliary.
A native of the Patetown community of Wayne County, she was preceded in death by her son, Michael Emmett Lancaster, and her parents, Mary Ida Blizzard Gardner and James Theodore "Thedie" Gardner; her stepmother, Nina Pate Gardner, who she loved as her mother; her siblings, Mary Lou Gardner Grantham, James Edward "Hoss" Gardner (Dorothy), Grace Gardner Davis, George J. Gardner (Carol) and Thedie Garner; and son-in-law, Glenn Edge.
The family would like say a special thanks to her caregivers Beth Sauls, Brenda Weatherspoon and Karen Taylor, and a special friend, Jeannette Howell.
In lieu of flowers the family request memorials be made to Kitty Askins Hospice Center, 107 Handley Park Court, Goldsboro, N. C., 27530
Arrangements are with Evergreen Memorial Service, Goldsboro and condolences may be made through www.evergreenmemorialservice.com.
(Pd)
Published in Obituaries on February 10, 2015 1:49 PM