HUNTSVILLE — Longtime Huntsville resident and member of Grace Baptist Church Ester Lehman, who turned 100 on March 12, will be honored by her congregation and family members for the milestone birthday during a special service and luncheon Sunday.

The celebration begins at 11 a.m. with presentations from the Texas Governor’s office and the Huntsville mayor’s office as well as special presentations from family in attendance. The luncheon honoring Lehman begins at 12:30 p.m.

All events take place at the church, located at 248 Highway 19 in Huntsville. The public is invited to attend.

According to church pastor David Beaty, Lehman’s birthday celebration has been a year in the making, beginning when he first met her just after her 99th birthday in March of 2009.

“I had just been called as pastor of the church and went to visit her,” Beaty said. “It was after that first visit that I started making plans for her 100th birthday.

“And when her family got wind of what was being done, the event grew to what it is now.”

Lehman’s family members are traveling from all over Texas as well as from Kansas and Louisiana to honor their beloved family member, known affectionately as “Nanny” by relatives as well as friends.

“Ester is a sweet lady,” Beaty said. “She is exactly what you would expect from a Southern lady. She is still in good health, getting around in a wheelchair, and loves to cook.”

Lehman’s oldest son is 80 years old and her youngest is 64. She is blessed with 13 grandchildren, 14 great-grandchildren and eight great-great-grandchildren. She also has been blessed with a dear friend, Sedalia Irving, who calls her “Mamma” and comes each morning to help ready her for the day.

According to a biography compiled by family members, Ester Mae (Huffines) Lehman was born on March 12, 1910, on a cotton farm located just outside the small West Texas small town of Turkey.

She was the youngest of four children —  two brothers and a sister — and is the only surviving sibling.

At the age of 10, with her mother very sick and incapacitated, she ran the farm house and cooked the food — not only for the family but the farm hands that came to pick the cotton.

It was in her teenage years that Reuben Lloyd Lehman, from Leon Prairie, came with a group to pick cotton. He liked her cooking and the way she would bring him cool water and a big smile.

In 1928, at the age of 18, Ester married Reuben Lehman. Their first son was born in 1930 and was followed by two girls, one in 1932 and one in 1933. In the depth of the Depression, the family of five made the move to Leon Prairie, where they joined Reuben's parents, four brothers and his twin sister.

The family survived the struggles of the depression and maintained a close-knit family continuity until the years of World War II. Reuben Lehman was deferred to run the farm and the family expanded with the birth of three boys.

With war behind them, conditions abruptly changed for the Lehmans in 1946 when fire destroyed their home. In 1947, with few belongings, and seeking better education and a nearness to Sam Houston College for their family of six children, the family moved to Huntsville.

Reuben Lehman was a dedicated employee of Finis Larrison at his auto-parts store. And with her own children in high school, Ester started a baby-sitting business in her home.

After the death of her husband in 1978, Lehman was determined to be self-sufficient and greatly expanded her baby-sitting. As a result, today her “new children” and their children, along with most people who know her, fondly call her “Nanny.”

According to family members, Ester Lehman has lived a simple Christian life — she has never smoked, or used tobacco, and whiskey has never crossed her lips, and she didn't pick cotton.

While she acknowledges the great doctors, nurses and medical care she has received, Ester Lehman credits her long life not to medical care, treadmills or exercise, but to God, whom she believes is in charge of both her living and her dying.