Lee Hester

Lee loved her life in the home she helped to build in Taos New Mexico. But she started life in Fredericksburg Virginia.

Wilma Lee Hester, younger sister of Benjamin Marvin Hester, and older sister (by five minutes) of William Faughn Hester was born in 1941 at Mary Washington Hospital in Fredericksburg Virginia - a month before Pearl Harbor.

She was the only daughter of Otis Marvin Hester (born Waco Texas) (1903-1978) and Wilma Faughn Hester (born Marshall County Kentucky) (1907-1990). Both her parents spent their adult lives living in Fredericksburg Virginia and both are buried in Fairdealing Cemetery, Marshall County, Kentucky.

The fraternal twins Wilma and William were known in the family as "Sister Lee" and "Brother Bee". (Wilma Lee later became known as Lee for most of her life.)

The first few years of Lee's life were spent near downtown Fredericksburg, at 415 William Street, in an upstairs apartment over the Mag Lewis Drug Store - where the family lived during the Second World War years.

The family then moved to College Heights (in about 1948) to Avenue "D" which later became Augustine Avenue as the area built up. Summer days were spent exploring Hazel Run and Alum Springs and local fields – and every year getting our own Christmas tree growing in the wild from nearby and building snowmen on the vacant lot next door when our house was the only one on the unpaved street.

Lee was a regular at the nearby horse stables, riding her favorite every Saturday - and this led her into instructing others in riding including one summer instructing youngsters at a summer camp in Vermont. And later on, this love of horses connected with her horse massage work.

Lee's schooling (all in Fredericksburg) went from Mrs Gravett's Kindergarten to Maury Elementary to James Monroe High School graduating in 1960 and then onto four years at the local Mary Washington College graduating in 1964. After that was a summer of language study at a Florida university and also in Paris for some language study for a year - after a cramped sea voyage across the Atlantic.

A couple of years then teaching French in a Virginia high school - which helped to eliminate part of the Virginia state tuition loan she had.

Lee always felt close to our relatives in Western Kentucky - the farms, the barns, the fields, the abandoned houses from previous times. She always had an affinity to nature and the land which had a focus in Kentucky and later in Colorado and eventually in Taos New Mexico.

In Colorado, she lived in Sunshine Canyon at 7000 feet altitude - up in the gold mining hills above Boulder for a few years - and also while in her cozy Sunshine Canyon cabin, she would commute to small town Lamar in south east Colorado during the school year to teach Spanish and French – and we were able to visit her there in Lamar once.

And then Lee moved to Taos New Mexico in the mid 1970s, and on the outskirts of Taos, Lee helped to build her adobe home and expand it over the years and set down her roots there. As the home grew, she began accommodating tenants - as well as starting a massage, therapy Sage Waters of Taos - with her bed and breakfast as well.

Visiting Lee, in both Colorado and New Mexico was always a highlight of our trips back to the States. Whether we got there via Albuquerque and rental car, or Denver and rental car - it was always

an adventure into an exotic part of the USA with its Spanish and Indian heritage. And one time we started from Las Vegas for the trip to Taos. Wow, what a journey through some lovely country to a lovely destination.

Thank you Lee for giving us that opportunity to visit with you over the years.

A loving and caring sister..... always searching, and always learning something new. Always active with new ventures in therapy, healing and massage.

May she now be in peace - our family is all the better for her lifetime of love and friendship.

After a long illness, Lee passed away peacefully at her home in Taos on February 6th 2024. 

Lee is survived by her two brothers, a sister-in-law, six nieces and nephews, a number of cousins and lots of fond memories.

Arrangements by Rivera Family Funeral Home.  To share a memory, please visit our website at www.riverafuneralhome.com