Kern County CA Obituary Project Obituaries.....Colwell, Hester  August 30 2004
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K Taylor bluewolf@onemain.com September 5, 2004, 11:26 pm

The Bakersfield Californian 
HESTER COLWELL

Hester Colwell, 87, went to be with her Lord and Savior on August 30, 2004. 
Hester was born and raised in Hammond, IN. Hester lived in Onatario for 37 
years prior to moving to Quartz Hill, California, in 1997 and subsequently 
Wasco, California in 2000.

During the 1960s Mrs. Colwell served as a Girl Scout Leader in the Spanish 
Trails Council taking her troop to the highest possible level of Scouting 
while she also devoted much love and care as the volunteer librarian at 
Kingsley Elementary School in Montclair. She was the recipient of the Kingsley 
School P.T.A. Life Membership award. 

At an age when most people think of slowing down, she saw an ad in the paper 
about learning to do Braille transcribing and spent the next 30+years as a 
volunteer and professional Braillist. She had found a way to spend three 
decades helping others. She studied Braille with the Pomona Valley 
Transcribers Guild and in 1965 she became a Certified Braillist. While a 
member of the PVTG, she volunteered her time brailling several books for the 
Ontario Library Braille Section. Using her Lifetime Credentials, she also 
taught Braille Transcribing at Covina Adult School for many years. 

She was once asked to Braille a Monopoly game for a child. She obtained 
permission from Parker Bros. although they really didnt understand what she 
was going to do. The game was so popular she received several requests from 
all over the country, including the Library of Congress. She individually 
brailled 56 games adapting them so sighted and blind children could play 
together.

Starting in 1975, she was employed by the San Bernardino County Schools as 
Braille Transcriber for visually impaired students at Ramona Jr. High working 
with them through graduation at Chino High School. In an ironic twist of fate, 
she was forced to retire in 1997 due to the loss of her own vision.

Hester was a long standing member of Montclair Christian Church.

She is survived by her caring family, Lynn and Larry Short of Quartz Hill and 
Gayle and Mark Maxey of Wasco.

Memorial contributions in her name may be made to Alzheimers Disease 
Association, 5500 Olive Drive Building One, Bakersfield, Ca 93301. 


Additional Comments:
Volunteer submission - No relation to deceased.

File at: http://files.usgwarchives.net/ca/kern/obits/gob1482colwell.txt

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