Mark Lester Obituary

MARK PRO LESTER Mark Pro Lester passed away peacefully on August 22, 2025, in Spokane, Washington. He was 90 years old. He was born on September 5, 1934, in Wichita, Kansas. He spent his early years there before his family moved to Southern California in 1941. He graduated from Monrovia-Duarte High School in 1952. From the beginning, Mark was thoughtful, curious, and quietly funny the kind of person who noticed things others missed. As a boy, he earned 14 merit badges in the Boy Scouts and loved fishing in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado. He worked at Thrifty Drug Stores and carried with him a strong work ethic and steady sense of purpose for the rest of his life. He studied philosophy and English literature at Pomona College. He had an article published in Ideas, a philosophy journal published by students at Yale University while he was an undergraduate ?" an early sign of the lifelong teacher and thinker he would become. He went on to earn his Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of California, Berkeley, and later earned an Executive MBA from the University of Hawaii. He volunteered for the draft in 1956 and served in the U.S. Army on active duty for two years, stationed with the 80th Ordnance Group Command at Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland. He met his wife, Mary Ann, at a Sock Hop at the beginning of his second year at Pomona and they married in 1957. The two shared 68 years of marriage built on partnership, intellect, love, and mutual admiration. Together they raised three children: Michael, Anne, and Matthew. Mark spent his professional life helping others understand the structure and rhythm of the English language. He taught at the University of Hawaii, where he helped found and chair the ESL department now regarded as one of the top programs in the country. He also served as Assistant Director at the East-West Center's Culture Learning Institute. In 1982, he joined the faculty of Eastern Washington University, where he taught, mentored, and eventually served as department head in the English Department. He retired as Professor Emeritus in 1999. He was the author of more than a dozen textbooks, including Grammar and Usage in the Classroom, one of the most widely used grammar texts in higher education. He also collaborated with longtime co-author Larry Beason. His work profoundly shaped the way countless students and teachers engage with the English language. Mark loved to cook, hike, jog (especially in Hawaii), and travel. He was always deeply engaged in civic life, whether it was as Chairman of the Manoa Valley Community Organization in Honolulu or as Chairman of the Rockwood Foundation in his later years. He and Mary Ann traveled the world through Road Scholars programs, and they took huge pleasure in visiting Italy and studying Italian while his daughter lived there. His grandchildren Philip, Theo, Thomas, and Nora were a deep source of pride and joy in his later years. Mark is survived by his wife, Mary Ann Zappas Lester; their children Anne Lester Trevisan (Adrian) and Matthew (Geva); and their grandchildren, as well as by his sister Darien Lester Shaw and her children and grandchildren. A celebration of Mark's life will be held on September 30 at 4 pm in the Event Center at the Rockwood Retirement Community South Hill Campus, 2903 East Rockhurst Lane, Spokane.