This is a Message Board Post that is gatewayed to this mailing list. Surnames: Gest, Kall, Milligan Classification: Obituary Message Board URL: http://boards.ancestry.com/mbexec/msg/rw/hkB.2ACE/9625 Message Board Post: Rockdale Reporter, Thur., 8 June 2006 Funeral services for Jennifer Gest, 35, of Rockdale, formerly of Houston and New York, were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday, June 7, 2006, at Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home in Rockdale with Rev. Jan Campbell of Peace Lutheran Church officiating. Cremation followed the services. Mrs. Gest died Sunday, June 4, at Richards Memorial Hospital in Rockdale. She was born Oct. 1, 1970, in Long Island, New York, to James and Carolee Lillian (Milligan) Kall. Mrs. Gest was a graduate of Alief Elsik High School in Houston and Wharton Junior College. She married Bradley Eugene Gest on Oct. 2, 1993, at Cozumel, Mexico. Mrs. Gest was owner of Gatti’s and Texas Burger in Rockdale. She was preceded in death by her mother, Carolee Lillian Kall. Survivors are her husband, Bradley Gest of Rockdale; a daughter, Kaimee Leigh Gest of Rockdale; her father, James Kall of Quintana; two brothers, James Kall, II of Sugar Land and Christopher Kall of Quintana; and her mother and father-in-law, Billy and Marie Gest of Rockdale. Pallbearers included Lee Jenkins, Paul Skubal, Tom Fisher, Dusty Loewe, Todd Leake and Bart Price. Honorary pallbearers were Wayne Fisher, Richard Rennison, Jay Kall, Justin Loewe, Lance Loewe, Derek Caffey, Scott Elliott and Allen Sanders. = = = = = Rockdale Reporter, Thur., 8 June 2006 "Restaurateur dies Sunday in cycle crash" "Driver suffers vertebrae injuries but is stable; deer collision possible" Rockdale lost a friendly and welcoming face on Sunday night when a local restaurateur was killed in a motorcycle accident north of Rockdale. Jennifer Gest, 35, half of the husband-wife tandem of Texas Burger, Subway and Gatti’s restaurant owners, died when a 1990 Honda motorcycle driven by Wayne Fisher, 40, ran off of FM 908 approximately 8 miles northwest of Rockdale, at 10:45 p.m., as they and other friends returned from a trip to Granger Lake. “There were no witnesses—just people driving up afterward,” DPS Trooper Ernest Del Bosque said Monday. “For some reason, they just ran off the road. I don’t know why.” Investigators are looking into the possibility of a deer causing the accident after a fresh carcass was found by a first-responder less than 100 feet from the accident scene. Del Bosque said Fisher lost control of his motorcycle and both he and Gest were thrown. Fisher had no memory of what happened, Del Bosque said. He said that neither was wearing a helmet and that alcohol could possibly have been a factor. Fisher, a manager with Bland Construction, was in stable condition Tuesday at Scott & White Hospital. He suffered several fractured vertebrae. Del Bosque said he arrived after ambulances were on the scene. He said Gest and Fisher were being loaded into AMR ambulances upon his arrival. The trooper said some of the friends had attempted CPR on Gest. She was pronounced dead of internal injuries at Richards Memorial Hospital in Rockdale by Justice of the Peace Wanda Hobbs. Fisher was transported to Scott & White Hospital in Temple by Medivac Helicopter. Del Bosque said DPS Trooper Michael Nix, a specialist in accident reconstruction, will study the scene to try and gauge the speed and other factors at the time of the accident. Granger Lake trip After spending time at Granger Lake, the group of friends stopped for supper at a restaurant in Hare. Gest had been riding on the back of a motorcycle of another friend but switched to Fisher’s bike at the FM 486 and 908 intersection, friends said. Gest’s husband Brad did not make the trip to the lake, and stayed behind to work on a freezer at one of the restaurants. RISD questions The accident also throws a kink into Rockdale ISD. Brad Gest is a member of the board of trustees and Fisher had just been elected in the May 8 contests. Fisher is also project superintendent for the RISD’s summer construction projects. A facilities committee meeting set for Tuesday was cancelled. Family Brad and Jennifer Gest met while in college. A graduate of Alief Elsik High School in Houston, she was the younger sister of a friend of Gest’s. After their wedding in Cozumel, Mexico, the two worked for the Pappas Corporation in Houston, managing restaurants and learning the ins and outs of the food business. In 2000, the couple returned to Rockdale to purchase the Texas Burger and Subway franchises from Bobby Elliott. After spending time working between Houston and Dallas for Pappas Corp. and Saltgrass restaurants, the Gests moved to Rockdale for a slower pace, to own their own business and to start a family. Jennifer Gest joked about her “commute.” “I was used to at least a 30-minute drive to my work in Houston,” she said. “Our first morning here, I loaded up with a big mug of coffee for my ride to work and had barely taken a sip about two minutes later when we arrived.” Almost one year ago, the couple purchased the local Gatti’s pizza franchise from Mike and Ann Glenn. She was also a member of Alpha Tau Delta, the sorority that steered the recent improvements at Veterans Memorial Park. Funeral services were held at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home with Pastor Jan Campbell officiating. Mrs. Gest leaves behind her husband and a two-year-old daughter, Kaimee Leigh; her father, James Kall of Quintana; two brothers, James Kall II of Sugar Land and Christopher Kall of Quintana; and her in-laws, Billy and Marie Gest of Rockdale.