The Historic Hall-Rialto Theater in Beeville, Texas

Hester to lead parade
Chamber names grand marshal

DR. JOHN HESTER
...2002 parade marshal

- By GARY KENT
Bee-Picayune staff
Dr. John Hester did not come to Beeville until 1947, but few positive developments have occurred here in which he did not play at least some role.
Fifty-five years after coming here, on Oct. 5, Hester will serve as grand marshal of the 65th annual Bee County Chamber of Commerce Parade. It is a fitting tribute for someone who not only served his community as an elected official and mayor, but who contributed to the business, social and religious interests of his city since he came here.
Hester was no stranger to South Texas when he arrived in Beeville to take over the optometry business of Mac Powell. He had grown up in Harlingen, graduated from Harlingen High School and had spent the war years at what was then the U.S. Army’s Kelly Field in San Antonio. He attended St. Mary’s University in the Alamo City before moving on to the Southern College of Optometry in Memphis, Tenn. He moved to Beeville shortly after graduation in 1947 and shared a building with Dr. W.L. Kirkland, a local physician.
The two doctors worked in the same building for another 14 years. In 1955, another optometrist, Dr. O.C. Schroeder, joined Hester’s practice and later physician Dr. Lawrence Reagan worked in the same downtown Beeville building at 310 N. Washington St.
As other doctors and optometrists came and went, Hester maintained his practice in the same corner of the building.
“I practiced in one room for 43 years,” he chuckled recently.
Civic involvement was in Hester’s blood and it started showing soon after he began practicing here. He first became involved in the Kiwanis Club and served as its president in 1953.
It was 50 years ago that Hester took part in one of his favorite projects, the selling of the bonds that finance the construction of the existing First United Methodist Church building at the corner of North St. Mary’s and East Cleveland streets. Hester took charge of the effort to sell those bonds and he led the way in making some changes in the way the bonds were sold to boost what then were lagging sales.
Hester remains active in the church and has served on most of the church’s committees and organizations.
Also, in 1952, Hester served as chairman of the Legislative Committee for the Texas Optometric Association and that year he helped found the College of Optometry at the University of Houston.
In the late 1950s, Hester was elected to the City Council and spent six years serving in that capacity. He was mayor from April 1966 until August 1967.
Over the years, Hester has held the title of president in numerous organizations, including the Navy League and Bee County Chamber of Commerce (in 1977), and he helped organize the Bee County Development Corporation which created Beeville’s first industrial park. That park now is home to two successful manufacturing companies and a greenhouse operation and other businesses.
Hester also was one of the original organizers of the Beeville Men’s Old-Fashioned Ranch Barbecue event that was held here since its inception in the last 1970s. He also was one of the hosts of a special barbecue event held when George H.W. Bush was president and came to Beeville and met literally hundreds of area residents.
Hester spent time on the board of directors of the now-defunct First Federal Savings and Loan Co. and did volunteer work with several charitable organizations. He also traveled to Mexico with an organization made up of physicians and optometrists to help provide important medical services for people there who could not afford treatment for their conditions.
Currently, Hester is an active supporter of the Hall-Rialto Preservation Association’s renovation plans for the old Rialto Theater downtown, hoping to turn the historic building into a tourist attraction and performing arts center.
This is not the first time the Chamber of Commerce has honored the untiring volunteer. In 1975, the Chamber named Hester its “ Man of the Quarter Century.” Few others in Bee County would have been worthy of such an honor, but it was more than appropriate for someone who has always shown a desire to give back to his community at least as much as his community has given to him.