Peggy Lee Hester's Obituary
Peggy Lee Hester was born February 2, 1930, in Memphis, Tennessee. She was the daughter of Ethel Simpson and William Carroll Lee and grew up in the Cooper Young area of Memphis. Peggy graduated from Central High School. She met her future husband, Bill Hester, at GMAC where they worked together. They were married in 1950 and had 2 daughters, Rose Ann and Terry. When her daughters were still young she began selling costume material and later dance shoes and leotards and made costumes for dance recitals.
As the years went by she concentrated more on the costume rental business, buying out some Broadway Show costumes and making others. She and her dressmakers made several of the Cotton Carnival Queen dresses, Les Passes Living Ads costumes and many more for other events. During Memphis’ Sesquicentennial year the City of Memphis had a float in the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California. Mr. Howard Willey, the father of the Cotton Carnival Queen, Lee Willey, was President of the Memphis Sesquicentennial and commissioned Peggy’s costume shop to create Southern Belle dresses for The Maid of Cotton and four little girls that would be riding on the float wearing those dresses. Peggy was asked to be a chaperone for the little girls and traveled with the group to Pasadena where she attended the Rose Parade, the Rose Bowl Game and other events. She was awarded one of 50 special plaques for her contribution to the Sesquicentennial of Memphis. The wood of the plaque is over a century old and taken from the timbers of the Memphis and Charleston Railroad Depot. It has always been one of her most prized possessions.
Peggy always had a passion for community service. In the early days of the St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital she was a member of the Ladies of St. Jude, a volunteer group that helped raise money for the Hospital. She was so excited about helping raise money for St. Jude Hospital that she asked the dance teachers who were her customers to have benefit shows for St. Jude Hospital. She also had dance conventions and formed a group of dancers from all the different studios in the area which were called the St. Jude Dancers. They raised a lot of money for the Hospital by performing around the city.
Later she was asked to help other children’s charities and therefore founded Children’s Charities of America and helped several small charities in the city. The dancers then became known as the Children’s Charities Dancers. Soon after, she became interested in the talent and beauty pageants for children and liked traveling around the country to produce them. She sold her costume shop in order to travel more.
While vacationing with some friends she came up with the idea that high school homecoming queens never got to do much after being crowned on homecoming night. Hence America’s Homecoming Queen was born. Peggy was the Founder and CEO directing America’s Homecoming Queen, a non-profit selection to promote education and educational travel for all Homecoming Queens in the 50 states, for almost 40 years. She influenced a lot of lives during this time as she encouraged the girls to reach for the stars. She made many valuable and long lasting friendships through these girls, their parents and families. It was just the past few years that she slowed down from all her endeavors.
Peggy was a member of Temple Baptist Church as a child. As an adult Peggy was a member of Cherokee Baptist Church where she taught a Sunday School Class and then later became a member of Bellevue Baptist Church. Peggy is preceded in death by her parents William Carroll and Ethel Simpson Lee and her husband Lambert (Bill) Hester. She is survived by her daughters Rose Ann Hester and Terry Lee Hester, and her granddaughter Alexis Ann Hester. Visitation will be Sunday April 16, 2023, at 1 PM and Services at 2 PM at Memorial Park Funeral Home on Poplar at I-240.
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