Esther Davis Bain Lucia

Esther Davis Lucia, 97, of Phenix City, Alabama, died peacefully at home on Sunday, June 29, 2025 under the care of Columbus Hospice and surrounded by family. The family will receive friends on Monday, July 7, 2025, from 10:30 am to 11:30 am EST at the Vance Brooks Funeral Home in Phenix City, Alabama, followed by funeral services at 11:30 EST at the Chapel for the funeral home, with Rev. Chris Herbert officiating. A private interment will follow in Lakeview Memory Gardens.

Mrs. Esther will be remembered and cherished by friends and family for many things, including her passion for flowers, her love of music, her steady faith in God, her gratitude and generosity for friends and family, and her kind, gentle and graceful manner.

Mrs. Esther was born during the Great Depression on April 10, 1928 in Troy, Alabama – the seventh child of the late John William Davis and Carrie Seleta Sanders Davis. The physician that delivered Mrs. Esther was paid with a female calf by Mrs. Esther’s father. Life on the Davis farm included growing almost everything that the family needed. From this experience sprang her love of the natural world and particularly flowers. Mrs. Esther won so many blue-ribbon awards for the flowers and arrangements from her flower garden that she was presented with an award from the Garden Club for the most blue ribbons ever won.

Mrs. Esther was baptized in a local river when she was young, and her faith was paramount for the rest of her lifetime. She was an active member of First Baptist Church in Phenix City, where she served various ministries including WMU, was a choir member and Sunday School teacher, and generously offered her time for decorating the church for special events. She was an active and faithful member of First Baptist Church for over seventy years.

Mrs. Esther’s childhood family was active in the local Baptist church that she grew up in, often arriving for service in a wagon. The members of her childhood family were all talented musicians, and often sang special music and solos at church services. Mrs. Esther carried this love of music with her for the rest of her life, and whether it was performing at First Baptist Church in Phenix City or sitting quietly beside her record player at home, she believed in the power and peace of music.

Mrs. Esther married Robert Wallace Bain in 1950 after World War 2. Together they raised four children. She was a devoted wife and mother, and reveled in the company of family, which later included grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Mrs. Esther had the gift of hospitality, and family, friends, soldiers, and even strangers would gather at her house to share fellowship and a meal – which often included her delicious made-from-scratch biscuits. After the death of her beloved husband Bob in 1992, Mrs. Esther married Dr. Joseph Anthony Lucia, who she had met as a teenager many, many years before. Together they traveled the world, including trips to Italy, Australia, Ireland, England, and Scotland.

Mrs. Esther was preceded in death by Robert Wallace Bain, her husband of forty-one years; her second husband Dr. Joseph Anthony Lucia; her three sisters – Mary Winnie Hall, Katy Mae Hedrick and Evelyn Voncille Henly; her four brothers – Willis Glen Davis, John William Davis, George Cecil Davis, and Thomas Lavone Davis; and her grandson Robert Lee Bain.

Survivors include her two daughters – Karen Elizabeth “Beth” Bain Jones (Ronnie) of Perry, Georgia and Katherine “Katy” Bain Kent (Donny) of Fortson, Georgia; her two sons – Robert “Bobby” Bain (Debra) of Brandon Florida, and David E. Bain (Cheryl) of Phenix City, Alabama; nine grandchildren, twelve great grandchildren, and many nieces, nephews and other extended family.

In lieu of flowers the family is requesting donations to be made in her memory to Lottie Moon Christmas Offering at www.imb.org/generosity/give-now.