George Estes

George Colquitt Estes died peacefully at his home at Westminster-Canterbury in Winchester, Virginia on December 19, 2011. The former Archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Southern Virginia was the beloved husband of Mary Brooke Steele Estes and father of George C. Estes, Jr., Matthew Estes and Hunter Barrat. He was born in 1924 in Waco, Texas, and, after serving in the Army Air Corps during World War II, attended the University of the South, where he received a B.A. in History in 1948, and Masters in Divinity from the Seminary in 1952. After marrying Mary Brooke Steele in 1954, Mr. Estes served at a number of churches in Texas and Virginia, and also spent three years, from 1964-1967, as the Rector of Trinity Church in Cali, Colombia. He spent the next 13 years as the Rector of St. Paul's Church in Newport News, Va. In 1982 he was named Archdeacon of the Diocese of Southern Virginia, and moved to Petersburg, Virginia, where he lived until moving to the Shenandoah Valley Westminster-Canterbury Retirement Community in 2007. Mr. Estes served as President of the Virginia Council of Churches and took an active role in the many communities in which he lived. He was active in the Rotary Club, the United Way, and served as head of the Petersburg Historic Preservation Society. Mr. Estes loved to travel, engaged in many spirited family tennis games, and will always be remembered by his family as a loving husband and father.
A graveside funeral service will be held at 2 pm on Thursday, December 22, at Blandford Cemetery in Petersburg, Virginia, followed by a reception at Christ and Grace Church in Petersburg. Donations in lieu of flowers may sent in Mr. Estes' memory to the General Scholarship Endowment for the University of the South, 735 University Ave., Sewanee, TN 37383-1000. Condolences may be registered at www.jtmorriss.com .