Opal Lester

Opal May (Sparks) Lester, 101, passed away peacefully on January 19, 2016 in Yakima, Washington.

Opal was born September 24, 1914 on a ranch near Shoshone, Idaho, the sixth of nine children of Clayton B. and Olive May (Shaw) Sparks. In 1923, the family began the move to Onalaska, where jobs were rumored to be plentiful. Since all the houses in Onalaska were occupied, their first residence that winter was a wooden platform with a tent anchored on top provided by the company.

Clayton Sparks became acquainted with William F. Carlisle, mill manager and son of the founder of Onalaska. Carlisle hired the Sparks family to manage their planned farm. Opal and her brothers and younger sister delivered milk, eggs and other farm produce to mill workers homes in a Model T truck.

Opal graduated with the class of 1933 from Onalaska High School. In school, she met Clifton Lester. He was two years younger and so she had to wait for him to graduate from high school. She always said he was a handsome guy and all the girls liked him, so she had to keep a close eye on him.  In September 1936, they were married at her older sister Pearl’s house in Sunnyvale, California beginning a marriage that would last 71 years until Cliff’s passing in 2007.

After they were married, Cliff attended Washington State University. The first year Opal stayed with her in-laws in Onalaska and the second year she went with Cliff to Pullman.  She worked in a little sandwich shop on the edge of campus and used Cliff’s student pass to attend all the football games.  They returned to California for a time to work and save money to buy land on the Alpha Prairie. They soon moved back to Onalaska and established a family ranch there raising cattle, sheep and hay. In 1948, they welcomed their daughter Julie, followed four years later by their daughter Gayla. 

Opal was a leader for the Alpha Better Bets 4-H club and spent countless hours with Julie and Gayla at horse and livestock shows. She was a cook and then the head cook for the Onalaska School District for 18 years. Many Onalaska School students remember her homemade cinnamon rolls and other treats that came with her smile and greetings as they passed through the lunch line. Opal was also a member of the Shoestring Community Club, Alpha Grange and the Onalaska Presbyterian Church.

In 1994, Cliff and Opal sold their place on the Alpha Prairie and joined their daughter Julie and her family on their ranch on the Kettle River outside Curlew, Washington. Opal enjoyed the beautiful views and being a part of life on the ranch until July 2015 when she moved to the Landmark Care Center in Yakima.

Opal delighted in her four grandsons and four granddaughters and watching them grow up, marry and start families of their own. She loved the weddings and her cream cheese mints became a tradition at the receptions. She was thrilled as the great grandkids began to arrive. At last count, there were 17 with another due in April.

Opal always loved sports, following her grandkids teams and then from afar, the great grandkids.  She became an avid fan of the Seattle Mariners and the Gonzaga men’s basketball team in her later years.  If there was a game on, she was watching it.

Opal also loved cribbage. She played it all her life and taught it to the grandkids. She was always up for a game and nothing tickled her more than winning.

Opal was preceded in death by her husband Cliff, her parents, her sisters Pearl Cleveland and Ruby Meyer, and her brothers Buster, Carl, Bert, Harold and Bob. She is survived by daughters Julie (Dennis) Olsen of Curlew and Gayla (David) Guenther of Goldendale, eight grandchildren, 17 great grandchildren, her younger brother Don of Coquille Oregon, and numerous nieces and& nephews.

Viewing will begin at 3:00 p.m., Friday January 29th at Newell-Hoerling's Mortuary in Centralia. A memorial service is scheduled for 1p.m. on January 30th at the Shoestring Valley Community Church, 104 Frase Road. Remembrances may be made to Heartlinks Hospice, 3920 Outlook Rd, Sunnyside, WA  98944 or to the Carl Sparks Memorial Scholarship care of the Puyallup Schools Foundation, PO Box 55, Puyallup WA 98371.

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