Esther Texas

“Under the wide and starry sky, Dig the grave and let me lie. Glad did I live and gladly die, and I laid me down with a will. This be the verse you grave for me: here he lies where he longed to be; Home is the sailor; home from the sea, and the hunter home from the hill.” XXI Requiem by Robert Louis Stevenson

Esther Rendon (nee Romero) was born on July 18, 1923, and entered into eternal rest on October 25, 2016 in Laredo, Texas.

She grew up in and attended elementary school in Hebbronville, Texas, before moving to Benavides, Texas where she attended high school, graduating second in her class in 1941. In her high school years, she worked alternatively for her uncle’s store in Hebbronville and Kingsville, and her mother’s store in Benavides. After her graduation from high school, she moved to Laredo, and within a few months, was working as an operator for AT&T, a company she would stay with until her retirement in 1983, having done a wide range of jobs for the company. Along the way, she was married to Cesar Cantu, with whom she had three daughters and one son. In the late 1960’s, she married a second time to Leonel Rendon, who she later bore a son.

She was preceded in death by her loving adoptive parents, Manuel and Guadalupe Romero, and by her birth mother, Luz Garcia (nee Fuentes).

She is survived by Naomi (Jim) Hallmark, Sylvia (Jim) Galloway, Laura (Roy) Mathew, and one son, Cesar (Debbie) Cantu, Jr., Richard (Diana) Rendon, and one stepson, Leonel Rendon, Jr. She has ten grandsons and one granddaughter, and thirteen great-grandchildren, as well as numerous cousins to count.

She was very involved in the Union Movement of the post-WWII years, serving as President of CWA Local # 6110. She was active in unionizing employees of AT&T, and other local companies. She even traveled, at the behest of the AFL, to South America, to organize communications workers in several countries.

After the passing of her second husband in 1989, Esther went to Texas A&M International University to audit a History class. At the age of 69, she walked across the stage at her university graduation. She later accumulated so many hours that she was awarded two double Bachelor’s Degrees; one in English and Psychology, and the other in History and Spanish. Her graduate thesis, on the post Civil War life and times of Colonel John Singleton Mosby, remains unpublished. After her college years, Esther enjoyed traveling, loved planting trees and flowers in her beautiful garden, and enjoyed the companionship of her dogs, Cowboy, Bambi, and Hunter, and her beloved cats. She will be dearly missed by her friends and family.

Our hearts go to the people that cared for her in her life: to Nelly Nevarez for always being there for the last 20 years until the end, and her daughter, Perla. To Lydia Bonilla, for her love and kindness in the years when Esther was saying good-bye to her beloved late husband, Leo. To nurses, Gilsa “Lisa” Diaz and Billy Renick, and everyone at St. Jude Hospice Care, for always giving her the best of care, and to Dr. Dennis Cantu, for always being her lifelong doctor and friend.

Visitation will be held Thursday, October 27, 2016 at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at Cortez from 5 to 9 p.m. A Rosary will be recited at 7:20 in the evening.

A Chapel service will be held Friday, October 28, 2016 at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels at 9:00 a.m.

Rite of Committal and Interment will follow immediately at the Calvary Catholic Cemetery.

You may express your condolences online at: www.joejacksonfuneralchapels.com

Arrangements have been entrusted to the care and direction of the funeral service professionals at Joe Jackson Heights Funeral Chapels, 719 Loring at Cortez, Laredo, TX 78040, 956.722.0001.