David Louis Vester

Class of 1967

1967 Maroon SpotlightDavid Vester
David Vester

Football 63-67, Basketball 63-67, Track 63-67;

David Louis Vester

January 25, 1948 – July 12, 1980

David Louis Vester, 32, native of Perry, 217 South Eleventh street, drowned at approximately 2:45 p.m. Saturday near the northeast end of the dam at the Oklahoma Gas & Electric Co. Sooner generating station lake in Pawnee county, about five miles southeast of Red Rock.

Funeral will be at 10 a.m. Tuesday at the Parker Funeral chapel in Perry. Burial will be in Grace Hill cemetery. Following the accident, the body was taken to Poteet Funeral home in Pawnee and then transferred to Perry.

The drowning was investigated by Noble county sheriff’s officers, Fred Stewart and Jim Speake, and Pawnee county sheriff’s officers, John Brumley and Jim Buckner. The body was examined by the Pawnee county medical examiner.

The body was recovered in approximately 15 feet of water at 5:47 p.m. during dragging operations from a boat containing Delbert Foltz, Noble county game ranger, and Speake and Stewart, the county officers. Another boat was in use and operated by John Lowry, Pawnee county game ranger, and Jack Shaw and Walter Wilson, both of the Perry fire department.

The investigation report filed by the officers said Vester, non-swimmer, had gone to the lake Saturday afternoon with Mrs. Norma Jane Tabbert, 38, 1007 Delaware street and her four children, 11, 9, 8 and 6.

Stewart and Speake said they had been swimming in an area where swimming was not permitted. Vester had been wading in water about two feet deep near a sharp drop-off to 15 feet deep. As he assisted one of the children onto the shore, his feet slipped from under him. He dropped off the edge of the “shelf” and went beneath the surface, the officers said.

Fishermen nearby heard Mrs. Tabbert’s cries for help and tried unsuccessfully to save Vester. The child he had assisted did know how to swim.

Mrs. Tabbert left the scene with the children to report the incident to officers. The fishermen also reported the accident and a search was launched. The drowning is the second at the lake within a month.

Vester was born in Perry Jan. 25, 1948. He attended Perry schools and lived here all his life. He was a 1967 graduate of Perry high school. He and Rayetta Brown were married in Perry July 15, 1967. He was an employee of the Perry division of the state transportation department and member of Mount Olive AME church.

Survivors include his wife, of Oklahoma City; a daughter, Regina Ray, Oklahoma City; a son, David Louis Vester Jr., Oklahoma City; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Eddie Vester. Perry; four brothers, Basil Williams, Wichita; and Cecil Williams, Lawrence Vester and Clarence Vester, all of Perry; two sisters, Mrs. Wanda R. Rhodes, Oklahoma City, and Isabell Vester, Perry; and his grandmother, Mrs. Maggie Vester, Perry.

Casket bearers will be Lawrence Vester, Clarence Vester, Cecil Williams, Basil Williams, Jeff Glover and Cecil Williams Jr.