Billie Jean Hester

Our beloved Mom, Grandma and Mama, Billie Jean Hester, age 94, passed away peacefully, surrounded by her family, on March 13, 2025, the date of her beloved sister Dimple’s birthday.

Billie was born at home on May 13, 1930, in Midway, MS, the seventh of eight children born to Jim Yow and Sarah Etta Wood Yow. She grew up in a “Sears Modern Home” purchased from Sears and Roebuck, delivered and assembled on site. The home still stands to this day.

A friend once told us that when Mom smiled, her whole face lit up. We will forever cherish memories of that sweet smile. In Billie’s senior year at Holcut School in Mississippi, her classmates voted her “Miss Holcut.” Her job at the hose factory in Iuka following graduation was not enough, so Billie packed her suitcase, boarded a train, and headed north to Chicago to join two of her sisters and to find more lucrative employment and broader opportunities.

Billie met our father at Holcut School. Our Uncle Terry reminisced that our father, Junior M. Hester, could have had any girl in Tishomingo County and Billie could have had any young man within a one-hundred-mile radius. Lucky for us, they chose each other! On their first date, Junior Merle borrowed his father’s school bus to pick her up for their trip into town. Billie was not offended and cheerfully boarded the bus. Thus began a relationship that lasted over 70 years. Although Bille left to find work in Chicago, she returned to Iuka in the winter of 1953 and on January 4, 1954, married her high school sweetheart. By this time Junior had enlisted in the Air Force and was stationed in California; he no longer had to borrow a bus but proudly drove Billie to California in a pink and black Ford Mercury.

In her twenty years of traveling with the Air Force, Billie became adept at moving the family and setting up a new home. Adventurous and open to new experiences, she immersed herself in the cultures of the different places they lived. She set up home nine times around the world, including California where their first daughter Sandra was born, and Mississippi where their second daughter Tammy was born. In January of 1960 the family boarded a Pan American Flight and departed for a tour of duty in Zaragoza, Spain. While in Spain, we enjoyed camping, going to the beach, and traveling in Italy and France. It was during this time that Billie decided blondes could have more fun and came home one day as a platinum blonde. Three and a half years later we once again boarded a plane heading this time to Burns Flat, OK. On a snowy Christmas Day in Oklahoma, their third daughter Connie arrived. After three long years of tumbleweeds and tornados, Billie once again put all the family’s possessions in storage so we could yet again board a plane, this time for Honolulu, HI. We enjoyed the beaches, the food and received family and friends for five sunny years. Dad’s final tour of duty led us to Bossier City, LA. In 1973, after 24 years of

military service, our father retired and the family moved one final time to Niceville, FL. Here, Billie embarked on a new stage of her life. For the first time since leaving Iuka, Mississippi, she could establish roots.

Billie was an amazing and loving mom and wife who catered to her husband, her daughters, son-laws, grandchildren and great grandchildren. She and Junior could always be found sitting in the bleachers cheering on their grandchildren at various activities and sporting events around town. For many years she was a league bowler, where she made wonderful memories and lifelong friends. She loved gardening and being outside, working in the yard until the very end of her life. She could often be found sitting on her front porch in her rocking chair, visiting with all her neighbors, who became like family to her. Mom loved rock-a-billy and country music, often lamenting that she would have enjoyed a life in music, maybe being a scout for new talent. She left us all with many memories, good examples to follow, important lessons learned, and a space that will never be filled.

Billie was preceded in death by her parents, Jim and Sarah Etta Yow, her husband, Junior, of 63 years, and her five sisters and two brothers: Willard Philben, Louise McKee, Roxie Yow, J.E. Yow, Dimple Simone, Lloyd Yow and Betty Strickland. Those left to cherish her memory are daughters Sandra Fazio (David) of Austin, TX, Tammy Johnson (Andy) of Valparaiso, FL, and Connie Krebsbach (Al) of Niceville, FL, grandchildren Saskia Fazio-McPhail (Matt), Jacob Fazio (Lauren) both of Austin, TX, Andrea Johnson of Niceville, FL, Malori Smith (Matt) of Panama City, FL, Tanner Krebsbach and Ella Krebsbach both of Niceville, FL and great grandchildren Landen Fazio, Elisabet McPhail, Everly McPhail and Wilson Fazio all of Austin, TX. Sisters-in-law Chestein Lambert of Iuka, MS, Linda Hester of Tishomingo, MS, Peggy Wilson of San Diego, CA., and brother-in-law Terry Hester of Iuka, MS. As well as many nieces and nephews…all of which she made sure to stay connected with and especially remembered them each year on their birthdays with a phone call.

A celebration of Billie’s life will be held on May 16, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Heritage Gardens Funeral Home, Niceville, Florida. Visitation with the family will be at 10:00 a.m.

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