Tyrone Freeman Debacle Hits Home in Compton
Annual Veterans Stand-Down Slated for This Weekend
Afflalo Returns Home to Give Back to Compton
Law Enforcement Officials Team to Provide Students Safe Passage
Prisoner Reaches Out to Youth With Poem
Seminars, Workshops Help Businesses Get Prepared
ESPN2 Spotlights Local Inner-city Baseball Organization
CRA Falsely Accused of Delaying Home Improvement Funding
Ex-Lynwood Councilman Pleads Guilty to Corruption
Fish Oil Appears to Help Against Heart Failure
Earl
Ofari Hutchinson:
Palin’s Blank Sheet on Diversity and Civil Rights
Community
Baptist’s ‘Spiritual Soldier’ Passes
The Rev. E.
Boyd Esters heads home after long battle with illness
By
Allison Jean Eaton
Bulletin
Editor
COMPTON—They
came alone, in small groups and large, to celebrate the life of,
and reminisce about, a true community pillar.
Church members, family, friends and city officials streamed in and
out of Community Baptist Church last Friday, Aug. 29 to pay their respects
to its longtime senior pastor, the Rev. Dr. E. Boyd Esters, who led the
small church’s flock since 1956 when he built and established the
congregation.
Esters headed home Monday, Aug. 25 after a long battle with illness.
He was 87.
Those who spoke to The Bulletin during the public viewing at the
church described a man who emanated the Holy Spirit: a man of love and
kindness, humor and wit—a father figure and a fighter.
The Rev. Willie Rollins, assistant pastor at Community Baptist, said
he admired Esters for his intellect and oratory skills.
“It was like he had a photographic memory,” he said with a
smile during an interview inside the late Esters’ pastoral study,
the walls of which are plastered with commendations, certificates and awards.
Not only was Esters a mentor to Rollins, who joined the church 10
years ago after his former church, Ephesians Church of God in Christ, closed,
but he also served as a father figure to Rollins, whose father walked out
on him when he was 6 months old.
“He was very strong and very loving,” Rollins said. “I’ve
never actually seen him angry or mad. He loved people, no matter
who they were.”
Born in Fisher, La., on July 16, 1922, Esters moved to the Los Angeles
area in 1948.
He attended Loa Angeles City College, where he studied architecture,
and USC, where he studied religion. He would later go on to attend New
Hope City College, where he obtained his MBA.
In 1956, he founded and built Community Baptist on the corner of
Central Avenue and 148th Street, where it still stands today.
On top of his pastoral work at Community Baptist, Esters also served
for 26 years as a clergyman and chaplain for the now defunct Compton Police
Department. Additionally, he was an Army and Air Force clergyman for nine
years.
“He was very God-centered,” Rollins said. “Just about
everything he would say was based around scripture. He was very much a
confidante.”
Ulysses Terry, a member of the church since 1984, described him as
a man of God whom he respected as both as a pastor and a fellow believer.
“What I remember the most is that every time I came to church, he
was always out there shaking hands and greeting people,” Terry said. “Every
time I’d turn the corner, if I didn’t see him there, I would
know church had already started or something was wrong.”
Both Terry and another man said their fondest memories were of Esters
marrying them.
Esters presided over Terry’s wedding vow renewal two years ago in
honor of the Terrys’ 50th wedding anniversary.
Esters also married Merrit Lefall and his wife, Frances, in 1955,
and performed their vow-renewal ceremony.
Shortly before their initial ceremony, the Lefalls were passing through
the Hub City and stopped by Community Baptist, which was then just a trailer
(the church was not built until the following year.)
Esters was painting, and because Lefall and his bride-to-be weren’t
keen on waiting until the following day, a Sunday, to exchange vows, Esters
offered to do it right then and there.
“He sat down his paintbrush, washed the paint off his hands and married
us right then and there,” Lefall said.
Esters had long been ill, Lefall said.
“But he was a fighter,” he said. “You know, he had two
brain surgeries years ago, about 25 years ago.
“He was a fighter, and he was a child of God. He believed in helping
everybody.”
To that end, Lefall said Esters would often conduct funerals free
of charge for former members of the church even though they had left the
flock.
“That’s just the way he was,” Lefall said of the 52-year
pastor.
Deacon Samuel Bass has been a member of the church since 1981. On
Dec. 18, 1983, Ester baptized both Bass and his son.
“He was an honest person,” Bass said. “As a man of God,
I respected his teaching. I watched him go from preaching to teaching the
Bible.”
One of Bass’ fondest memories stems from a trip he took to Louisiana,
where he caught some fish and brought them back to Compton.
“I cooked (the fish) and brought him some of the fish when he was
sick,” Bass said. “The next Sunday, Esters told the congregation
that if I put a wig on, he’d marry me because I was such a good cook.”
Esters also dedicated much of his time to the Compton branch of the
NAACP, which he headed for some 17 years. He also established the E. Boyd
Esters Manor. In 1989, he made an unsuccessful vie for the mayoral seat.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Willie Pearl Esters, who, according
to church staff, passed four or five years ago.
The memorial service was hosted Friday evening at Community Baptist
following a daylong viewing. New Senior Pastor Alexander Hamilton and Pastor
Greg Hubbard officiated.
A home-going celebration was held the following day at New Hope Baptist
Church, which Esters attended before launching Community Baptist.
ADVERTISE | CLASSIFIEDS | ABOUT US | CONTACT US | SUBSCRIBE | HOME
This site and its contents ©2008 thecomptonbulletin.com