Vance Cranston Hester, 93, retired Superintendent of Public Schools, District 84, Franklin Park, IL, died Dec. 3, 2002, of pulmonary and heart failure at Gottlieb Hospital, Melrose Park, IL. He was born March 24, 1909, in Fort Payne, DeKalb County, AL, southeast of Chattanooga, TN. At age 10 he moved with his parents, James D. and Nancy Elizabeth King Hester, from a farm to East Alton, IL. After attending local public schools, he graduated from Shurtleff College, Alton, IL, in 1931 and later earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Colorado. He began teaching in 1931 as a fifth and sixth grade teacher and junior high school coach in East Alton and became a first through sixth grade principal in 1937. In the same year he married Lella Apple. In 1939 Vance and Lella moved to Morris, IL, where he was a junior high school principal and elementary school assistant to the superintendent of schools. He came to Franklin Park in 1941 to become principal and later superintendent of the Franklin Park grade school system, which grew from one to five schools by the time of his retirement in 1973. He continued to serve the community on the Franklin Park Planning Commission and was elected in 1996 to the board of the Leyden Township School Treasurer. He was also a long-time active member of both the Franklin Park Kiwanis Club, serving as President in 1947, and the First United Methodist Church of Franklin Park. He recently had been living in Palatine, IL. Vance Hester is survived by his sons Donald (Ingrid) of Annandale, VA, Richard of Coeymans Hollow, NY, and John (Elaine) of Glen Ellyn, IL; his grandchildren Karen, Nicole, Cary, Erich, Jonathan and Katie; and his greatgrandchildren Laura, Brian, Christopher and Andrea. His wife Lella died in 1999. A 3 p.m. memorial service will be held Jan. 31 at the First United Methodist Church of Franklin Park, 9857 Schiller Blvd., Franklin Park, IL 60131, to which memorials may be made. He was cremated by the Sax-Tiedemann Funeral Home of Franklin Park and will be inurned privately at Mount Emblem Cemetery, Elmhurst, IL. For information please call 847-678-1950 . www.sax-tiedemann.com
