JOAN JESTER BERRY
12/17/1929 - 04/07/2024
Joan Jester Berry entered into the presence of the Lord on the 7th of April 2024.
She was born on the 17th of December 1929, in Corsicana, TX, the daughter of Gov. Beauford H. Jester and Mabel Buchanan Jester. She moved with her family to Austin after her father was elected Governor of Texas, where she remained after he died in office in 1949. Joan graduated from then Ward Belmont Junior College in Nashville, TN, and then from the University of Texas in Austin with a B.A. in English, Phi Beta Kappa, and as a member of Pi Beta Phi. She married future Lt. Col. Thomas Eugene Berry in 1951, and the two moved to Houston to start their life together, along with, as it turned out, most of their friends.
Joan (who went by JoAnn) was a longtime member of Bethel Church, Jeanette Clift George’s Bible class, the Junior League of Houston, the Houston Country Club, the River Oaks Garden Club, and the Antique Study Group. She proudly served on the Harris County Grand Jury for three terms. She also served on the Winedale Council and on the Board of Trustees of Hermann Eye Fund. Tom and JoAnn loved their monthly supper club, formed with Pi Phi friends in Houston, eight couples of the Greatest Generation. But most important to her were her God, her family, and her many friends from all walks of life.
JoAnn loved growing up in Corsicana, which was founded by her covered-wagon-traveling ancestors. She was Queen of Corsicana High School, and in college was “The Isle of Capri” in Fiesta San Antonio. While at Ward Belmont, she traveled with schoolmates to pre-Castro Cuba. She was a student at The University of Texas when her future father-in-law, Gen. Kearie L. Berry, Adjutant General of the Texas National Guard, suggested to his friend and fellow WWI First Officers Training Camp member Beauford Jester, that their son and daughter ought to meet. Their matchmaking worked.
Full of poise and grace, JoAnn was also known for her humor and thoughtfulness; she loved to help others. She worked at Prudential Insurance when she first moved to Houston with Tom, but being a mother soon replaced that job. She tutored juveniles in detention through the Junior League. When her children grew, she became a licensed interior decorator, and earned her realtor’s license - “just in case.” But she was a baker at Christmas, as she showed her appreciation to those who had been a help to her with a loaf of banana nut bread. Like her mother, she had many
“old ladies” whom she dutifully visited and checked on regularly. JoAnn loved people and she knew no strangers; even the kind staff at the Buckingham, where she spent her final years, became her friends. Always the gracious hostess, she opened her home to foreign students and their families for the holidays, and she had the band U2 over for a home-cooked meal when they played in a small club nearby. She read her Bible daily and was an example of faithfulness and kindness to all who knew her. She was a witty writer, well-known for her annual Christmas letters. She loved traveling and learning; she studied Russian history, and she and Tom also studied German to better enjoy their trips to Germany for Tom’s work. The two were a team, loved each other dearly, and were an example of a good marriage, good parenting, and good Christians to all.
After Tom’s passing in 2004, JoAnn continued their custom of cruising, but now she went with friends, or even by herself. She went so often to Cozumel that she had friends in the shops there, too. It took two strokes to slow her down at the end; before, she had been a stalwart at the local YMCA’s aerobics class, cracking jokes and entertaining all, while still keeping herself in great shape. But perhaps most notable about her was her positive outlook on life. JoAnn never complained. To the end, she focused on others; she asked the doctors and nurses how they were - and she meant it.
JoAnn is preceded in death by her husband, her parents, her younger brother Beauford Jester, Jr., and her sister Barbara Jester Burris. She is survived by her children James Buchanan Berry and his wife Denise of Austin, Janet Berry Dundas and her husband Rod, and Alice Jester Berry of Houston, plus her grandsons Carroll Stoner Vance IV and Thomas Berry Vance of Houston, and granddaughter Kearie Lee Berry of Austin. The family is extremely grateful to Catherine Hicks, Johana Soto, Jill Dundas, Chichi Thompson, Carolina Estrada, and the staff at the Buckingham for their loving and extraordinary caretaking in JoAnn’s final years.
A memorial service is to be conducted at two o’clock in the afternoon on Thursday, the 18th of April, at Bethel Church, 825 Bering Drive in Houston. Immediately following, all are invited to greet the family during a reception at the Church.
An interment service is to be conducted at twelve o’clock noon on Monday, the 22nd of April at Oakwood Cemetery, 700 N 15th Street in Corsicana, Texas.
In lieu of customary remembrances, memorial contributions may be directed to Bethel Church, Attn: Treasurer, 825 Bering Dr, Houston, TX 77057 or by visiting online at https://bethelofhouston.com/give/ or The A.D. Players by visitng online at https://www.adplayers.org/support.