Registered Nurse

CANTON – Esther Helton Rice, 101, passed away on Saturday, Sept. 1, 2012, at the Brian Center of Weaverville.

A native of Yadkin County, she was the daughter of the late William Bray and Katherine Crisp Helton.  She was also preceded in death by her first husband, C. Lev Weir, who died in 1961 and her second husband, Leighton Lee Rice, who died in 2006; two sisters, Ava Lee Mariani and Mary Kathleen Fisher; and a brother, Jack David Helton.  She retired from the VA Medical Center in Newport News as a registered nurse and an oral surgical nurse.

She is survived by a son, William “Bill” Weir of Novato, California; two grandchildren Susan Kay Stubbleine and Steven Mark Weir; five great grandchildren, and three great great grandchildren.

No services are planned.