Eugene Lester

Eugene F. Lester was born August 7, 1871 in Lebanon, Tennessee to Preston S. and Elizabeth (née Crutchfield). He became an attorney, moved to Oklahoma and became judge of the 5th Judicial District from 1918 to 1924. In 1924, he was named to the Oklahoma Supreme Court, where he served until 1931.[lower-alpha 1] He also served as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court from 1931- 1932. He was a member of the Disciples of Christ church, Free Masons and Odd Fellows.[1]

While serving as Chief Justice, Lester represented Oklahoma in a University of North Carolina study that examined the practices of six state supreme courts in trying to be more efficient by sitting in divisions rather than en banc while hearing cases.[2][lower-alpha 2]

A brief notice in Emporia, Kansas's Emporia Gazette stated that the Lester's body, was found in an Oklahoma City hotel room with a bullet wound to the head. A note in the room indicated that Lester took his own life on July 25, 1940, because of ill health. The acting coroner ruled the death a suicide, and gave no other details.[3]

His daughter, Doris Lester Burns, survived him. She died in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, at the age of 86, on September 24, 1993, where she had lived for many years. Both her husband, Chester Parker Burns, and her mother, Beulah Collier Lester, had preceded her in death.[4]