Hester A. Burns was born on October 11, 1914, in Johnstown, Cambria County, Pennsylvania. Her parents were Daniel Timothy Burns (1884-1960), and Elizabeth E. Rodgers (1888-1949), both born in Johnstown.

At the time of the 1920 Federal Census, the children of Mr. and Mrs. Burns were Hester A., Donald T., and Bridget E. In 1940, they had two more sons, William and Robert. Mr. Burns was a machinist in the steel mill.

Bridget E. Burns graduated in the St. Francis Class of 1939.

On September 12, 1938, in Johnstown, Cambria County, Hester Ann Burns married Joseph Thomas Cavanaugh.

In the 1940 census of Washington, District of Columbia, Hester Cavanaugh, a hospital nurse, was married to Joseph Cavanaugh, a sewing machine salesman. The census record indicates that she had been living in Pittsburgh in 1935. Bridget Elizabeth Burns, her sister, had graduated from nursing school in 1939 and she was living with the Cavanaughs in Washington, D.C. She is listed as a "New Worker Nurse."

In 1953, Joseph T. and Hester A. Cavanaugh lived in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was residing there when she applied for a Social Security Card.

According to the Nationwide Gravesite Locator, Hester A. Cavanaugh, born October 11, 1914, died on February 3, 1982, last residence Prairie Grove, Washington County, Arkansas. Her husband, a U. S. Navy Veteran of World War II, died May 3, 1977. They are interred at Fayetteville National Cemetery, Fayetteville, Arkansas.