Donor Story
Now
Putting Their Best Foot Forward
Esther and Gene Best have been committed donors to Boys and Girls Country
since the 1980’s. Over the years, their faithful monthly gifts have endowed more
than two of the 29 chairs at the Endowment’s Children’s Table*, ensuring that
two children will have three meals every day forever. Esther has said of their
giving, “It just seemed the right thing to do – to make sure the children would be
fed.”
They both grew up in northern Pennsylvania. Gene got his engineering degree
from Penn State and worked as an engineer in the oil and gas industry, which
brought them to Houston. Esther worked
at their church, Cypress United Methodist, as a receptionist and bookkeeper.
Now
Esther and Gene were first introduced
to Boys Country through their church.
Some members of the Boys Country
Ladies Auxiliary invited Esther to join
the group and she was happy to get
involved. Spring Festival began as a
Ladies Auxiliary fundraiser in 1978.
Spring Festival looked very different in
the 70’s and 80’s, consisting of a livestock auction, a large silent auction,
Gene and Esther Best
craft and bake sales, and the barbecue
lunch cooked by the Over the Hill Gang. The Auxiliary volunteers had a great time
planning the event and the whole campus got involved. Teaching Parent moms
would bake cakes and pies for the bake sale and Teaching Parent dads and the
boys would sell plants from our greenhouse at the plant sale.
Gene and Esther were very active volunteers and enjoyed seeing firsthand how
they were helping children. Esther served as the treasurer for the Auxiliary for
many years. She and Gene made crafts to sell at the festival, and he once made
an incredible doll house for the live auction.
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In 1993 Gene retired and the couple now lives in Coldspring, Texas on Lake
Livingston. They have five grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren with
another on the way. Esther volunteers at the local food pantry each Monday and
helps with bookkeeping. She and Gene are also involved in a ministry that sends
care packages to servicemen and women. They don’t get to