Kathy Lester

Sara Kathryn Lester – “Kathy”, 78 of Ft. Worth, Texas passed away on June 21, 2025 in Ft. Worth.

Born February 23, 1947, in Dallas, Texas she was known lovingly as “Kathy.” She was the daughter of Joseph Wakefield McCown and Grace Lee Worley McCown of Lancaster, Texas. Kathy was the youngest of four children. She adored all three of her older brothers and loved to try and be a part of everything they did growing up. She had a very happy childhood with loving parents and wonderful extended family that created beautiful joyful memories for Kathy and were the source of amazing stories. Kathy’s family moved around for her father’s job growing up, but she considered Lancaster and Shreveport, Louisiana her homes. She graduated from Woodlawn High School in Shreveport and went onto Northwestern State College in Natchitoches, Louisiana. 

After college in Shreveport, Kathy met and married Gene Lester. Although they did not remain married, they were thankful to have had two wonderful children together. Kathy was thrilled to become a mom to Chad Worley Lester in 1974 and Jill Kathryn Lester Franklin in 1977. She was the most wonderful mother they could ever be blessed with. The Lord did beautiful work in crafting Kathy as a mother – she was the greatest.

Kathy was a longtime educator. She began her career as a teacher and then moved into working in special education. She loved growing and taking on new endeavors as a longtime educator. She went from teaching elementary education to special education to being a diagnostician, assistant principal, elementary principal, and finished her career as the Director of Special Education. Kathy was a devoted educator with 35 years working with children when she retired in 2004.

Kathy was thrilled to begin the next phase of her life. When she retired, she pursued more volunteer opportunities within her church, First Baptist Church Dallas. She was a 40-year member of this church. She loved being in Mrs. Criswell’s Sunday school class, being a chapel choir sponsor, and being on leadership for the Celebrate Recovery ministry. She eventually moved her church membership to First Baptist Church Keller to be closer to some of her grandchildren. At First Baptist Keller, she loved being involved in her ladies’ Sunday school class and the Precepts Bible study classes.

Kathy loved filling her time throughout her adult life by supporting her children. She never missed a game or activity that Chad and Jill were involved in. She was always their biggest fan and supporter. She raised them on her own while maintaining a busy career. She was always joyful through adversity and hardship. There was never a harder worker than Kathy. Her children know how blessed they were to have such a strong and loving mother. She taught them from the beginning about the love of Jesus and modeled it everyday of her life. Although she and Chad did not live in the same city, she was always supportive of him and a phone call away at any time. She loved him unconditionally. Kathy’s favorite thing to do with Chad was discuss her beloved Dallas Cowboys team. She was a fan through and through and never gave up hope that this was going to be the Cowboys’ year. She loved to talk to Chad on game days and hope for a bright future for their team. She and Jill lived close together the majority of Jill’s life. They truly were best friends and had so many wonderful adventures together over the years. Before Jill married, she and Kathy loved to travel to the mountains together and just sit and enjoy God’s beautiful creations. They spent many hours talking, laughing, shopping, going on adventures, or even just being together. Kathy was there to support Jill when she became a mother. It was a gift to have her mother by her side through every milestone in life. Kathy also loved and adored her son-in-law John Franklin and always knew that if it needed fixing, John was the man. She appreciated his love and support over the years. 

Kathy loved the opportunities she had to travel on mission trips. Her very favorite mission trip was to Brazil in the early 1980s. She made lifelong friendships on this trip that were truly lifechanging. It is no surprise that The Lord would use Kathy to further his kingdom all over the world. She was a servant and warrior for Christ. Kathy was a friend to everyone that knew her and was always looking for ways to help others. She served The Lord and her community throughout her life.

She was not only an amazing mother, but truly the greatest granny that any child could ask for. She loved her eight grandchildren and two great grandchildren fiercely. Kathy loved to attend all of the games, school events, musicals, dance recitals, birthday celebrations, and daily life events for these children. She said often that being a granny was truly life’s greatest blessing. She thought that greatest blessing was being a mother until she became a granny and lived for those children. Kathy loved spending time with Jordan and Chandler when they were younger and being there for their special events. Even though they weren’t in the same city, she visited as often as possible to support all that they did. After Kathy retired, her next round of grandchildren was born and she was thankful to live close to them. Jack, Ella, Luke, Jolee Grace, Lanie, and Everly were blessed to have Granny close by and always at every life event big or small for them. No celebration happened in their life without their granny. She was a fixture in all that they did. She loved living her last twenty years focusing on being a granny and even a great granny now while also always striving to grow closer to The Lord.

Even when she could no longer drive to Bible studies, she always found one to attend where she lived. Kathy loved Jesus and continued to grow in her faith until her final day here. She was blessed over the years studying God’s word closely with other women at church or her senior apartments. She was blessed by these friendships.

There are not enough words to express the tremendous loss of Kathy from her loved ones’ lives, but her legacy lives on deeply in her children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren.

She is survived by her beloved son, Chad Lester; her best friend and daughter Jill Franklin (John); her greatest blessings - her grandchildren Jordan Lester, Chandler Lester, Jack Franklin, Ella Franklin, Luke Franklin, Jolee Grace Franklin, Lanie Franklin, and Everly Franklin; her precious great granddaughters Jada Townsend and Naia Lester; her sister-in-law and lifelong friend Gloria McNutt (Walter); and her many nieces and nephews that she loved so dearly.

She was preceded in death by her parents Joseph and Grace Lee McCown; her beloved brothers Joseph Roger McCown, William Lee McCown, and James Raymond McCown.