Key points:
- Clara Ester was at the Lorraine Motel when the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. That day changed her life, she said, and set her on lifelong path to fight injustice.
- Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Ester grew up in a family dedicated to serving others.
- For 36 years, she worked for Dumas Wesley Community Center, which serves vulnerable individuals and families in Mobile, Alabama. She remained a tireless advocate for those on the margins.
At 19, Clara Jane Ester ran toward danger to offer aid to the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. on the day of his assassination in 1968.
From that day until her death at age 77 on July 9, she lived up to her vow to fight injustice.
“Today, there’s no kind of injustice — gay rights, immigration rights, whatever — that I don’t feel obligated to address,” she told UM News of her experience.
Just as the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired Ester, she has inspired many others.
Born and raised in Memphis, Tennessee, Ester was a lifelong United Methodist who grew up in a family dedicated to serving others. Her mother worked at the church’s Bethlehem Center, where Ester learned the importance of caring for the community.
Civil rights pioneer the Rev. James Lawson was pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church when Ester’s family attended in Memphis. He was Ester’s mentor and inspired her to pursue a life rooted in faith and service.
But it was the day that King was assassinated that she said changed her for life.
King came to Memphis to participate in the 1968 Sanitation Worker Strike.
“Dr. King came into the city early — April 3, 1968 — and he met with ministers. It was thundering and lightning,” Ester remembered in an essay she wrote for what is now United Women in Faith. He was invited to speak at Mason Temple, Church of God in Christ, which would seat thousands, she said.
She remembered King’s words that night: “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the 20th century, I will be happy.”
The next day Ester was pulling into the parking lot at the Lorraine Motel when she heard a blast “like a truck backfiring.”
“It was gunshot. I saw Dr. King thrown up in the air and then back down, hitting the pavement. My friend Mary Hunter and I took off running up the stairs toward him. He was breathing but very slowly. I unbuckled his belt to help. His eyes were open. On the side of his head and neck was a pool of blood,” she wrote.
That day marked her for life.
Ester moved from Memphis to Mobile, Alabama, where she attended Toulminville-Warren Street United Methodist Church. For 36 years, she worked for Dumas Wesley Community Center, which serves vulnerable individuals and families. Although she officially retired in 2006, she remained a tireless advocate for those on the margins
“Clara Ester was a faithful disciple whose life reflected the heart of Christ,” said Bishop L. Jonathan Holston, who leads the Alabama-West Florida and North Alabama conferences.
“She never stopped answering God’s call to serve others, to seek justice and to love without reservation. The Alabama-West Florida Conference gives thanks for her extraordinary witness and the countless lives she touched through her ministry,” he said. “We join in praying for her family and all who mourn her passing while celebrating a life faithfully lived.”
Bishop David W. Graves knew Ester from his time leading the Alabama-West Florida Conference. He now leads the Kentucky, Tennessee-Western Kentucky and Central Appalachian Missionary conferences.
“My Clara Ester stories are endless,” he said in a message to the conferences.
“Clara will be missed immensely, but what a day of rejoicing is going on in heaven. For love will always find a way for those who trust in Jesus and seek to love even in our differences. Love you, Clara!”
Ester's leadership extended across the denomination.
In 1986, Ester became a deaconess, part of a lay order of people called to a lifetime of service. From 2016 to 2020, she served as national vice president of United Methodist Women, the predecessor to United Women in Faith. She also chaired the Committee on Deaconess and Home Missioner Service before becoming chair of the National Association of Deaconess, Home Missioner, Home Missionary in 2020.
Beginning in 2024, she served on the Commission on Religion and Race during the current quadrennium. That year, she also represented the Alabama-West Florida Conference as a delegate to General Conference and the Southeastern Jurisdictional Conference. She also served as Mobile District lay leader where she connected with United Methodists around the area.
Harriett Jane Olson, retired top executive of United Women in Faith, said Ester was a respected and formidable advocate for women, children and youth.
“She was one of those people who knew much more than she said, and what she did say was both worth waiting for and worth remembering.”
Olson said knowing and working with Ester was a blessing.
“She gave unstintingly of her time and energy to organizations doing work that was important to her. What a blessing to me and to so many others that United Women in Faith was one of them.”
Lindsey Buttram Middleton served as a General Conference delegate alongside Ester.
“The loss of Clara feels as if gravity has somehow shifted,” Middleton said. “As she joins the Church Triumphant, Clara would be the first to remind us that the Church here on earth still has a lot of work to do.
“May her words and wisdom continue to inspire and inform our efforts.”
United Methodist deaconesses expressed an outpouring of grief for her passing and spoke of her inspirational life.
“Deaconess Clara Ester was a committed United Women in Faith member having served in leadership and as a persistent activist for justice,” said Sally Vonner, top executive of the women’s organization.
In May, Ester attended United Women in Faith’s Assembly in Indianapolis.
“She touched countless lives through her ministry with the Deaconess Home Missioner Community, as executive director of Dumas Wesley Community Center and her service and leadership in The United Methodist Church,” Vonner said.
“She was a dear friend who I will carry in my heart forever. I am grateful that so many of us got to interact with her at the recent Assembly in Indianapolis.”
Pat Luna worked alongside Ester as a delegate to The United Methodist Church’s General Conference in 2012 and 2024.
“Micah 6:8 was written on Clara Ester’s heart,” Luna said of her friend. “She taught us that justice without humility is incomplete, and kindness without action is insufficient. She lived all three with extraordinary grace.”
Deaconess Sung-ok Lee said Ester “exemplified living as a ‘foot soldier of hope’ for the community and encouraged that we live this out as well every day.”
Megan Hale, an executive in United Women in Faith’s Office of Deaconess and Home Missioner, said Ester inspired those who followed in her footsteps.
“Many of us are who we are today because of Deaconess Clara Ester,” she said. “By sharing stories of her own experiences and through her unwavering work for justice, Clara taught us what it means to be deaconesses and home missioners, how to find strength and courage through community, how to listen deeply and be in solidarity with others, and how to respond when our faith calls us to act.”
The Rev. Keith Caldwell, the current pastor of Centenary United Methodist Church in Memphis, said the church family expresses deep sorrow at the news of her passing.
“She exemplified generosity of spirit and welcomed others with sincere joy. Her interactions consistently conveyed heartfelt love to all she encountered. As a civil rights legend, she remained humble and unassuming,” Caldwell said. “Throughout her life, Sister Ester demonstrated unwavering faithfulness to God and to the people of God.”
Celeste Eubanks, director or Candler Center for Christian Leadership at United Methodist Candler School of Theology, said she is a United Methodist deaconess because of Ester.
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“She saw something in me long before I fully saw it in myself and challenged me to ‘do something’ to use my gifts to make a difference in the world. That invitation changed the course of my life,” Eubanks said.
The world knew Ester for her courageous witness at the intersection of God’s love and justice, said the Rev. Emily Kincaid, head of the Alabama-West Florida Conference’s delegation to the 2024 General Conference.
“But those of us who knew her personally also knew her humor, her joy and her wonderfully playful spirit. Clara endured profound hardship and confronted injustice throughout her life, yet she never became hardened or lost sight of what mattered most: loving God and loving her neighbors as she loved herself. She carried that calling with grace and an unexpected lightness,” Kincaid said.
Deaconess M. Garlinda Burton, retired head of the United Methodist Commission on the Status and Role of Women, also called Ester a mentor.
“Clara remained relevant in her ministries across the decades,” Burton said.
Ester also worked as a United Methodist Commission on Religion and Race volunteer monitor for the 2016 General Conference while Burton was working with the agency.
“She connected with people of all ages with her message of Jesus’ love and justice,” Burton said. “My faith is stronger because of her example.”
Ester is survived by her son, Reggie.
Services will be held in both Mobile and Memphis.
In Mobile, a celebration of her life is scheduled at 11 a.m. July 17 at Toulminville-Warren Street United Methodist Church. Visitation is scheduled at 3-6 p.m. July 16 at B.E. Brown & Co. Mortuary and 9-11 a.m. July 17 at Toulminville-Warren Street United Methodist Church.
Visitation in Memphis is scheduled at 10-11:55 a.m. July 20 at Centenary United Methodist Church. The funeral is scheduled at noon at the church. Burial will follow the funeral service at Elmwood Cemetery in Memphis.
Gilbert is a freelance writer in Nashville. Mary Catherine Phillips, director of communications for the Alabama-West Florida Conference, contributed to this report.
News media contact: Julie Dwyer at [email protected]. To read more United Methodist news, subscribe to the free UM News Digest.
