Steven (Steve) Kent Tester

Steven (Steve) Kent Tester, age 77, passed away at home after brief treatment for esophageal cancer on September 14, 2025. Steve grew up in the Midway Community of Butler. He played football for Johnson County High school and graduated in 1966, where he remained lifelong friends with his classmates. He traveled many years and all over the country in his early years as an iron worker. He was employed since 1971 with Ironworkers Local #978. After retirement, he moved back to Butler to be with family and to help care for his mother. He was a great lover and tender of chickens, especially fond of the Black Laughing Spanish chicken. Steve could usually be found at a flea market, tinkering around his garage, at a poultry show, or eating breakfast at Pleasant’s restaurant. He loved spending time telling stories, with his many friends or spending time with his daughter, Taylor.

Steve was a man of many words and an avid reader who loved Mark Twain. It’s fitting that Twain wrote,“The man who does not read good books has no advantage over the man who cannot read them.”

Steve is preceded in death by his mother and father, Luke and Dee Cable Tester. His sister, Charlene Laws and husband Chalmas of Dry Hill, his brother, Herman Tester, and his Brother-in-law Jack Wilson Jr.

Steve is survived by his daughter, Taylor Tester of Butler, TN. Sisters, Pat icenhour of Mountain City; Juanita Wilson of Elizabethton; Carolyn Wagner and her husband, Bob, of Bluffton, SC; sister-in-law, Nancy Tester of Sulphur Springs and many dear nieces, nephews and cousins. Steve had many lifetime friends and special friends, Jack, Pete, and Bum.

Honorary pallbearers are Jack Proffit, Pete Osborne, Wayne (Bum) Stout, and Zack Campbell.

A memorial service will be held Sunday, September 28, 2025 at 3:00 p.m. in the Hux Lipford Funeral Home Chapel with Sam Icenhour to officiate.  The family will receive friends from 1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. prior to the service.  Private family burial will be held at Bradley Cemetery at a later date.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Butler Museum at P.O. Box 261, Butler, TN 37640 or to St. Jude’s children’s hospital at 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

Online condolences may be sent to the family through our website at www.huxlipfordfh.com

Hux & Lipford Funeral Home is honored to serve the Tester family.