Estellee Worsham Hessman, known to practically everyone as “Lee”, was born on Nov. 27, 1929 in Ardmore, OK, and died Dec. 26, 2020, in Glendale, AZ, a month after her 91st birthday. She was born to Robert Edward Lee Worsham, a businessman who ran a grocery and a movie theater, and Estella Black Worsham of Ringling, OK. Estellee was the last of six children: Christina, Edith (who died age the age of 4) and Phaylis came from her dad’s first wife, Hester, who died shortly after Phaylis was born; her other siblings Neil and Jurhee were 5 and 9 years older.
During the Depression, Mr. Worsham as so kind-hearted, that he allowed people to take food for their hungry families from the Hamm & Worsham grocery, without paying their tabs, and he lost his business. In 1934, the family moved to Ada.
Estellee’s sister, Jurhee, who played piano and organ, was a big influence on her life. She learned to play the piano well enough to accompany at many church and civic occasions at a young age. She also loved to hear opera and symphonies on the radio.
Her father died when she was 16, so her mother went to work in the cafeteria of the elementary school and continued to support Estellee as she entered East Central State College in Ada. She says she remembered that she was so poor, she could only afford the coffee for 5 cents. Her Aunt Pearl, one of her mother’s sisters, lived closer to the college, and offered lunches to college students, including one Fred Hessman.
She met Fred in Freshman English at the college. Fred, who was from the small farming town of Paden, served as an airplane mechanic in World War II. He studied for three years at East Central and worked as a mechanic at a local airport to fund his studies. After being told there was no future in aeronautical engineering, he dropped out to attend Officer Training School and become an Air Force pilot. Estellee received her Bachelor of Arts in Education. Their relationship was on-again, off-again, and when it was time for Fred to leave, Estellee refused his proposal of marriage. Fred went to training in Georgia and Japan, and then served in Okinawa with the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at the end of the Korean War. Estellee went to Seminole to teach high school, where she directed a choir that won several state contests. She regretted turning Fred down, however, so when he returned from his tour of duty, and on the 20th of March, 1954, they were married at her home church, First Methodist, in Ada.
Soon they were off on their first marital/military adventure in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Estellee accepted the opportunity to learn the “bel canto” style of singing, and to sing in the St. Paul Opera chorus, until the birth of their son, Frederic Victor Hessman. Fred’s next assignment took them to Schilling Air Force Base, Salina, Kansas, where their daughter, Lee Ann, was born. Following two years in Topeka, Kansas, Fred received his first overseas Permanent Change of Station to Incirlik, Turkey. Estellee particularly loved this assignment for the opportunities to travel in the Holy Land. Officers’ housing was a 2-bedroom single wide trailer, but it came with a maid and a gardener! Although Fred was nominally a B-47 bomber pilot, he often flew a T-33 training jet during the week, looking for interesting places from the air so that the family could hop into the Rambler station wagon and go visit them on the weekends. All four of the family enjoyed the amazing opportunities to explore Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Greece. Estellee particularly liked Beirut, which she described as the “Paris of the Middle East”.
The next assignment took the family to Loring Air Force Base, in the wilderness at the utter northeast corner of Maine. Although Estellee and the kids enjoyed the friends they met and the adventures in snow, Fred was desperate to get away from working in the brutal cold and hated flying B-52 bombers at the height of the Cold War. After two years, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam, and Estellee and the kids moved into a rental home back in Ada, OK. It was a year to remember for all. The kids had the opportunity to bond with grandparents and cousins, and Estellee decided it would be good to get her mind off the danger Fred was by getting a Master’s degree at her old Alma Mater, now a university.
When Fred finished his tour of duty in 1967, they gave him his choice of stations, and he chose Germany. He was also given the choice of traveling by air or by ocean liner, and so the Hessmans had a great adventure crossing the North Atlantic on the U.S.S. United States. The three years in Germany were one of her life’s best adventures, not only for the travels all over Europe, but for the opportunities to sing, direct children’s choirs, and accompany for the chapel choir. She participated in several musical and religious retreats every year in a hotel for US military personnel and their families overlooking the Bavarian Alps, so the lovely city of Berchtesgaden became one of her favorite places on Earth. One of her fondest memories was walking up the steep road from the city up towards the General Walker Hotel and hearing the choir sing the Hallelujah chorus by Handel.
With her kids about to begin high school and junior high, Fred and Estellee decided to return to the United States in 1970. Fred tried to go to New Mexico, where he had lived for a while during his childhood, but instead he was offered Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Estellee was excited about a beautiful new home on base housing. She was the accompanist for the chapel choir until the director retired, and she became the director. She taught herself to play the organ, so she could play for all the chapel services, which included the all the Protestant and Catholic services, including weddings and funerals. Her legacy includes the 15 years she organized Handel’s Messiah through the chapel, and including the Church at Litchfield Park. She would hire a small orchestra and soloists, and practiced and directed these productions. One year she hired a young man from the church Lee Ann was attending in town, Mark Delavan, who went on to sing opera in New York City. He told her years later that singing for her in that production remained on his resume for many years.
Fred retired after 37 cumulative years in the Air Force. By this time, their son Rick was living and working in Heidelberg, Germany, so Fred and Estellee went for his his wedding. Fred was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and his last trip away from home was for their daughter, Lee Ann’s, wedding, to the ASU chapel. He died in 1987 in the Veterans Hospital in Phoenix. Estellee spent the long hours at his bedside those last few months, and used the time to organize the massive number of family photos into albums.
Estellee continued her music at the base chapel until she became discouraged with the many changes happening in the military. She decided to begin attending church in town, choosing Christ the Redeemer Lutheran on 43rd Avenue in Phoenix, because one of her favorite musicians, Doug Benton, played the organ there. She made many fast friends, and served as the piano accompanist, until age began to catch up with her, and she could no longer climb the steps to the choir loft. Driving to and from the church became too difficult, so she returned to her much-loved base chapel. Eventually, she even had to give that up, except for the times she could find a ride to church.
In the meantime, her children, Rick and Lee Ann, were having children of their own. As each was born, she wrote a song just for them.
She loved visiting and often being visited by Richard and Ryan in Arizona. She was had a particularly close relationship with Richard, the first grandchild. Ryan spent many summer vacations in Phoenix. Estellee would pay the grandkids generously to do yard work, and then take them to the Disney Store at the mall to buy toys with their newly earned fortunes. She loved to take them to breakfast at Mercer’s or Country Cupboard, and Ryan loved to eat a different seafood item at Lobster House each year. Several times, all of the family made it to Phoenix or to Germany for wonderful reunions of the core families. While she could, she made several trips a year to see Rick and her grandsons Patrick and Christopher in Germany, combining the family visits in her other favorite city, Heidelberg, with weekday outings to various places in Europe.
After many wonderful years and memories, however, there came the time when she couldn’t travel to see the overseas grandchildren and eventually she couldn’t easily drive to see the Arizona grandchildren either. Her last big travel adventure was a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon with Rick and his 2nd wife, Christina, where she was pushed along the scenic outlooks in a wheelchair.
When Rick gave her a photo of one of his telescopes in South Africa – a beautiful shot showing the southern Milky Way – she started distributing copies of the photo to sometimes random people along with a short spiritual message about the beauty of God’s Cosmos. Eventually, she started distributing free books of Hubble Telescope pictures for the same reason and with the same message – a rather expensive hobby and a very unique Christian Ministry.
One of her greatest loves was to have much-loved friends and family over to her house for choir sings. These were generally done close to her birthday (Nov. 27) or Christmas. Twenty to thirty people packed into her modest home. She directed… someone else played… and those who didn’t sing, enjoyed the live program, the good food, and fun fellowship.
Some extraordinary women came into Estellee’s life through the years to help her and care for her in her home. These included Michelle Bennett, Jackie Kludt, Judy Leutz, Jenny Stengle, and Nicole Nicosia. All shared unique bonds of faith and love with Estellee.
When Estellee finally got a great-grandchild, Patrick’s son Finn, she was able to visit him online via Skype, but the plan to have Finn come to Phoenix to visit his great-grandmother never had a chance to materialize.
This year, just as the COVID-19 virus became a global pandemic, her health took a sharp decline, and it became necessary for her to leave her beloved home. It was impossibly difficult to be quarantined and away from friends and family while in hospitals, rehab facilities, and an assisted living apartment, and the opportunities to see (mostly) her family were very few and far between. When it became clear she could not get any better, Faith Hospice came in, and immediate family were allowed to see her, two at a time. Her daughter, Lee Ann, thought it would be fitting for her to pass on Christmas, for she loved it so much, but she left this world the day after, on December 26th, 2020.
By her daughter and son, Lee Ann Powers and Frederic Victor Hessman
During the Depression, Mr. Worsham as so kind-hearted, that he allowed people to take food for their hungry families from the Hamm & Worsham grocery, without paying their tabs, and he lost his business. In 1934, the family moved to Ada.
Estellee’s sister, Jurhee, who played piano and organ, was a big influence on her life. She learned to play the piano well enough to accompany at many church and civic occasions at a young age. She also loved to hear opera and symphonies on the radio.
Her father died when she was 16, so her mother went to work in the cafeteria of the elementary school and continued to support Estellee as she entered East Central State College in Ada. She says she remembered that she was so poor, she could only afford the coffee for 5 cents. Her Aunt Pearl, one of her mother’s sisters, lived closer to the college, and offered lunches to college students, including one Fred Hessman.
She met Fred in Freshman English at the college. Fred, who was from the small farming town of Paden, served as an airplane mechanic in World War II. He studied for three years at East Central and worked as a mechanic at a local airport to fund his studies. After being told there was no future in aeronautical engineering, he dropped out to attend Officer Training School and become an Air Force pilot. Estellee received her Bachelor of Arts in Education. Their relationship was on-again, off-again, and when it was time for Fred to leave, Estellee refused his proposal of marriage. Fred went to training in Georgia and Japan, and then served in Okinawa with the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at the end of the Korean War. Estellee went to Seminole to teach high school, where she directed a choir that won several state contests. She regretted turning Fred down, however, so when he returned from his tour of duty, and on the 20th of March, 1954, they were married at her home church, First Methodist, in Ada.
Soon they were off on their first marital/military adventure in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Estellee accepted the opportunity to learn the “bel canto” style of singing, and to sing in the St. Paul Opera chorus, until the birth of their son, Frederic Victor Hessman. Fred’s next assignment took them to Schilling Air Force Base, Salina, Kansas, where their daughter, Lee Ann, was born. Following two years in Topeka, Kansas, Fred received his first overseas Permanent Change of Station to Incirlik, Turkey. Estellee particularly loved this assignment for the opportunities to travel in the Holy Land. Officers’ housing was a 2-bedroom single wide trailer, but it came with a maid and a gardener! Although Fred was nominally a B-47 bomber pilot, he often flew a T-33 training jet during the week, looking for interesting places from the air so that the family could hop into the Rambler station wagon and go visit them on the weekends. All four of the family enjoyed the amazing opportunities to explore Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Greece. Estellee particularly liked Beirut, which she described as the “Paris of the Middle East”.
The next assignment took the family to Loring Air Force Base, in the wilderness at the utter northeast corner of Maine. Although Estellee and the kids enjoyed the friends they met and the adventures in snow, Fred was desperate to get away from working in the brutal cold and hated flying B-52 bombers at the height of the Cold War. After two years, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam, and Estellee and the kids moved into a rental home back in Ada, OK. It was a year to remember for all. The kids had the opportunity to bond with grandparents and cousins, and Estellee decided it would be good to get her mind off the danger Fred was by getting a Master’s degree at her old Alma Mater, now a university.
When Fred finished his tour of duty in 1967, they gave him his choice of stations, and he chose Germany. He was also given the choice of traveling by air or by ocean liner, and so the Hessmans had a great adventure crossing the North Atlantic on the U.S.S. United States. The three years in Germany were one of her life’s best adventures, not only for the travels all over Europe, but for the opportunities to sing, direct children’s choirs, and accompany for the chapel choir. She participated in several musical and religious retreats every year in a hotel for US military personnel and their families overlooking the Bavarian Alps, so the lovely city of Berchtesgaden became one of her favorite places on Earth. One of her fondest memories was walking up the steep road from the city up towards the General Walker Hotel and hearing the choir sing the Hallelujah chorus by Handel.
With her kids about to begin high school and junior high, Fred and Estellee decided to return to the United States in 1970. Fred tried to go to New Mexico, where he had lived for a while during his childhood, but instead he was offered Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Estellee was excited about a beautiful new home on base housing. She was the accompanist for the chapel choir until the director retired, and she became the director. She taught herself to play the organ, so she could play for all the chapel services, which included the all the Protestant and Catholic services, including weddings and funerals. Her legacy includes the 15 years she organized Handel’s Messiah through the chapel, and including the Church at Litchfield Park. She would hire a small orchestra and soloists, and practiced and directed these productions. One year she hired a young man from the church Lee Ann was attending in town, Mark Delavan, who went on to sing opera in New York City. He told her years later that singing for her in that production remained on his resume for many years.
Fred retired after 37 cumulative years in the Air Force. By this time, their son Rick was living and working in Heidelberg, Germany, so Fred and Estellee went for his his wedding. Fred was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and his last trip away from home was for their daughter, Lee Ann’s, wedding, to the ASU chapel. He died in 1987 in the Veterans Hospital in Phoenix. Estellee spent the long hours at his bedside those last few months, and used the time to organize the massive number of family photos into albums.
Estellee continued her music at the base chapel until she became discouraged with the many changes happening in the military. She decided to begin attending church in town, choosing Christ the Redeemer Lutheran on 43rd Avenue in Phoenix, because one of her favorite musicians, Doug Benton, played the organ there. She made many fast friends, and served as the piano accompanist, until age began to catch up with her, and she could no longer climb the steps to the choir loft. Driving to and from the church became too difficult, so she returned to her much-loved base chapel. Eventually, she even had to give that up, except for the times she could find a ride to church.
In the meantime, her children, Rick and Lee Ann, were having children of their own. As each was born, she wrote a song just for them.
She loved visiting and often being visited by Richard and Ryan in Arizona. She was had a particularly close relationship with Richard, the first grandchild. Ryan spent many summer vacations in Phoenix. Estellee would pay the grandkids generously to do yard work, and then take them to the Disney Store at the mall to buy toys with their newly earned fortunes. She loved to take them to breakfast at Mercer’s or Country Cupboard, and Ryan loved to eat a different seafood item at Lobster House each year. Several times, all of the family made it to Phoenix or to Germany for wonderful reunions of the core families. While she could, she made several trips a year to see Rick and her grandsons Patrick and Christopher in Germany, combining the family visits in her other favorite city, Heidelberg, with weekday outings to various places in Europe.
After many wonderful years and memories, however, there came the time when she couldn’t travel to see the overseas grandchildren and eventually she couldn’t easily drive to see the Arizona grandchildren either. Her last big travel adventure was a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon with Rick and his 2nd wife, Christina, where she was pushed along the scenic outlooks in a wheelchair.
When Rick gave her a photo of one of his telescopes in South Africa – a beautiful shot showing the southern Milky Way – she started distributing copies of the photo to sometimes random people along with a short spiritual message about the beauty of God’s Cosmos. Eventually, she started distributing free books of Hubble Telescope pictures for the same reason and with the same message – a rather expensive hobby and a very unique Christian Ministry.
One of her greatest loves was to have much-loved friends and family over to her house for choir sings. These were generally done close to her birthday (Nov. 27) or Christmas. Twenty to thirty people packed into her modest home. She directed… someone else played… and those who didn’t sing, enjoyed the live program, the good food, and fun fellowship.
Some extraordinary women came into Estellee’s life through the years to help her and care for her in her home. These included Michelle Bennett, Jackie Kludt, Judy Leutz, Jenny Stengle, and Nicole Nicosia. All shared unique bonds of faith and love with Estellee.
When Estellee finally got a great-grandchild, Patrick’s son Finn, she was able to visit him online via Skype, but the plan to have Finn come to Phoenix to visit his great-grandmother never had a chance to materialize.
This year, just as the COVID-19 virus became a global pandemic, her health took a sharp decline, and it became necessary for her to leave her beloved home. It was impossibly difficult to be quarantined and away from friends and family while in hospitals, rehab facilities, and an assisted living apartment, and the opportunities to see (mostly) her family were very few and far between. When it became clear she could not get any better, Faith Hospice came in, and immediate family were allowed to see her, two at a time. Her daughter, Lee Ann, thought it would be fitting for her to pass on Christmas, for she loved it so much, but she left this world the day after, on December 26th, 2020.
By her daughter and son, Lee Ann Powers and Frederic Victor Hessman
Estellee Worsham Hessman, known to practically everyone as “Lee”, was born on Nov. 27, 1929 in Ardmore, OK, and died Dec. 26, 2020, in Glendale, AZ, a month after her 91st birthday. She was born to Robert Edward Lee Worsham, a businessman who ran a grocery and a movie theater, and Estella Black Worsham of Ringling, OK. Estellee was the last of six children: Christina, Edith (who died age the age of 4) and Phaylis came from her dad’s first wife, Hester, who died shortly after Phaylis was born; her other siblings Neil and Jurhee were 5 and 9 years older.
During the Depression, Mr. Worsham as so kind-hearted, that he allowed people to take food for their hungry families from the Hamm & Worsham grocery, without paying their tabs, and he lost his business. In 1934, the family moved to Ada.
Estellee’s sister, Jurhee, who played piano and organ, was a big influence on her life. She learned to play the piano well enough to accompany at many church and civic occasions at a young age. She also loved to hear opera and symphonies on the radio.
Her father died when she was 16, so her mother went to work in the cafeteria of the elementary school and continued to support Estellee as she entered East Central State College in Ada. She says she remembered that she was so poor, she could only afford the coffee for 5 cents. Her Aunt Pearl, one of her mother’s sisters, lived closer to the college, and offered lunches to college students, including one Fred Hessman.
She met Fred in Freshman English at the college. Fred, who was from the small farming town of Paden, served as an airplane mechanic in World War II. He studied for three years at East Central and worked as a mechanic at a local airport to fund his studies. After being told there was no future in aeronautical engineering, he dropped out to attend Officer Training School and become an Air Force pilot. Estellee received her Bachelor of Arts in Education. Their relationship was on-again, off-again, and when it was time for Fred to leave, Estellee refused his proposal of marriage. Fred went to training in Georgia and Japan, and then served in Okinawa with the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at the end of the Korean War. Estellee went to Seminole to teach high school, where she directed a choir that won several state contests. She regretted turning Fred down, however, so when he returned from his tour of duty, and on the 20th of March, 1954, they were married at her home church, First Methodist, in Ada.
Soon they were off on their first marital/military adventure in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Estellee accepted the opportunity to learn the “bel canto” style of singing, and to sing in the St. Paul Opera chorus, until the birth of their son, Frederic Victor Hessman. Fred’s next assignment took them to Schilling Air Force Base, Salina, Kansas, where their daughter, Lee Ann, was born. Following two years in Topeka, Kansas, Fred received his first overseas Permanent Change of Station to Incirlik, Turkey. Estellee particularly loved this assignment for the opportunities to travel in the Holy Land. Officers’ housing was a 2-bedroom single wide trailer, but it came with a maid and a gardener! Although Fred was nominally a B-47 bomber pilot, he often flew a T-33 training jet during the week, looking for interesting places from the air so that the family could hop into the Rambler station wagon and go visit them on the weekends. All four of the family enjoyed the amazing opportunities to explore Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Greece. Estellee particularly liked Beirut, which she described as the “Paris of the Middle East”.
The next assignment took the family to Loring Air Force Base, in the wilderness at the utter northeast corner of Maine. Although Estellee and the kids enjoyed the friends they met and the adventures in snow, Fred was desperate to get away from working in the brutal cold and hated flying B-52 bombers at the height of the Cold War. After two years, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam, and Estellee and the kids moved into a rental home back in Ada, OK. It was a year to remember for all. The kids had the opportunity to bond with grandparents and cousins, and Estellee decided it would be good to get her mind off the danger Fred was by getting a Master’s degree at her old Alma Mater, now a university.
When Fred finished his tour of duty in 1967, they gave him his choice of stations, and he chose Germany. He was also given the choice of traveling by air or by ocean liner, and so the Hessmans had a great adventure crossing the North Atlantic on the U.S.S. United States. The three years in Germany were one of her life’s best adventures, not only for the travels all over Europe, but for the opportunities to sing, direct children’s choirs, and accompany for the chapel choir. She participated in several musical and religious retreats every year in a hotel for US military personnel and their families overlooking the Bavarian Alps, so the lovely city of Berchtesgaden became one of her favorite places on Earth. One of her fondest memories was walking up the steep road from the city up towards the General Walker Hotel and hearing the choir sing the Hallelujah chorus by Handel.
With her kids about to begin high school and junior high, Fred and Estellee decided to return to the United States in 1970. Fred tried to go to New Mexico, where he had lived for a while during his childhood, but instead he was offered Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Estellee was excited about a beautiful new home on base housing. She was the accompanist for the chapel choir until the director retired, and she became the director. She taught herself to play the organ, so she could play for all the chapel services, which included the all the Protestant and Catholic services, including weddings and funerals. Her legacy includes the 15 years she organized Handel’s Messiah through the chapel, and including the Church at Litchfield Park. She would hire a small orchestra and soloists, and practiced and directed these productions. One year she hired a young man from the church Lee Ann was attending in town, Mark Delavan, who went on to sing opera in New York City. He told her years later that singing for her in that production remained on his resume for many years.
Fred retired after 37 cumulative years in the Air Force. By this time, their son Rick was living and working in Heidelberg, Germany, so Fred and Estellee went for his his wedding. Fred was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and his last trip away from home was for their daughter, Lee Ann’s, wedding, to the ASU chapel. He died in 1987 in the Veterans Hospital in Phoenix. Estellee spent the long hours at his bedside those last few months, and used the time to organize the massive number of family photos into albums.
Estellee continued her music at the base chapel until she became discouraged with the many changes happening in the military. She decided to begin attending church in town, choosing Christ the Redeemer Lutheran on 43rd Avenue in Phoenix, because one of her favorite musicians, Doug Benton, played the organ there. She made many fast friends, and served as the piano accompanist, until age began to catch up with her, and she could no longer climb the steps to the choir loft. Driving to and from the church became too difficult, so she returned to her much-loved base chapel. Eventually, she even had to give that up, except for the times she could find a ride to church.
In the meantime, her children, Rick and Lee Ann, were having children of their own. As each was born, she wrote a song just for them.
She loved visiting and often being visited by Richard and Ryan in Arizona. She was had a particularly close relationship with Richard, the first grandchild. Ryan spent many summer vacations in Phoenix. Estellee would pay the grandkids generously to do yard work, and then take them to the Disney Store at the mall to buy toys with their newly earned fortunes. She loved to take them to breakfast at Mercer’s or Country Cupboard, and Ryan loved to eat a different seafood item at Lobster House each year. Several times, all of the family made it to Phoenix or to Germany for wonderful reunions of the core families. While she could, she made several trips a year to see Rick and her grandsons Patrick and Christopher in Germany, combining the family visits in her other favorite city, Heidelberg, with weekday outings to various places in Europe.
After many wonderful years and memories, however, there came the time when she couldn’t travel to see the overseas grandchildren and eventually she couldn’t easily drive to see the Arizona grandchildren either. Her last big travel adventure was a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon with Rick and his 2nd wife, Christina, where she was pushed along the scenic outlooks in a wheelchair.
When Rick gave her a photo of one of his telescopes in South Africa – a beautiful shot showing the southern Milky Way – she started distributing copies of the photo to sometimes random people along with a short spiritual message about the beauty of God’s Cosmos. Eventually, she started distributing free books of Hubble Telescope pictures for the same reason and with the same message – a rather expensive hobby and a very unique Christian Ministry.
One of her greatest loves was to have much-loved friends and family over to her house for choir sings. These were generally done close to her birthday (Nov. 27) or Christmas. Twenty to thirty people packed into her modest home. She directed… someone else played… and those who didn’t sing, enjoyed the live program, the good food, and fun fellowship.
Some extraordinary women came into Estellee’s life through the years to help her and care for her in her home. These included Michelle Bennett, Jackie Kludt, Judy Leutz, Jenny Stengle, and Nicole Nicosia. All shared unique bonds of faith and love with Estellee.
When Estellee finally got a great-grandchild, Patrick’s son Finn, she was able to visit him online via Skype, but the plan to have Finn come to Phoenix to visit his great-grandmother never had a chance to materialize.
This year, just as the COVID-19 virus became a global pandemic, her health took a sharp decline, and it became necessary for her to leave her beloved home. It was impossibly difficult to be quarantined and away from friends and family while in hospitals, rehab facilities, and an assisted living apartment, and the opportunities to see (mostly) her family were very few and far between. When it became clear she could not get any better, Faith Hospice came in, and immediate family were allowed to see her, two at a time. Her daughter, Lee Ann, thought it would be fitting for her to pass on Christmas, for she loved it so much, but she left this world the day after, on December 26th, 2020.
By her daughter and son, Lee Ann Powers and Frederic Victor Hessman
During the Depression, Mr. Worsham as so kind-hearted, that he allowed people to take food for their hungry families from the Hamm & Worsham grocery, without paying their tabs, and he lost his business. In 1934, the family moved to Ada.
Estellee’s sister, Jurhee, who played piano and organ, was a big influence on her life. She learned to play the piano well enough to accompany at many church and civic occasions at a young age. She also loved to hear opera and symphonies on the radio.
Her father died when she was 16, so her mother went to work in the cafeteria of the elementary school and continued to support Estellee as she entered East Central State College in Ada. She says she remembered that she was so poor, she could only afford the coffee for 5 cents. Her Aunt Pearl, one of her mother’s sisters, lived closer to the college, and offered lunches to college students, including one Fred Hessman.
She met Fred in Freshman English at the college. Fred, who was from the small farming town of Paden, served as an airplane mechanic in World War II. He studied for three years at East Central and worked as a mechanic at a local airport to fund his studies. After being told there was no future in aeronautical engineering, he dropped out to attend Officer Training School and become an Air Force pilot. Estellee received her Bachelor of Arts in Education. Their relationship was on-again, off-again, and when it was time for Fred to leave, Estellee refused his proposal of marriage. Fred went to training in Georgia and Japan, and then served in Okinawa with the 4th Fighter Interceptor Squadron at the end of the Korean War. Estellee went to Seminole to teach high school, where she directed a choir that won several state contests. She regretted turning Fred down, however, so when he returned from his tour of duty, and on the 20th of March, 1954, they were married at her home church, First Methodist, in Ada.
Soon they were off on their first marital/military adventure in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Estellee accepted the opportunity to learn the “bel canto” style of singing, and to sing in the St. Paul Opera chorus, until the birth of their son, Frederic Victor Hessman. Fred’s next assignment took them to Schilling Air Force Base, Salina, Kansas, where their daughter, Lee Ann, was born. Following two years in Topeka, Kansas, Fred received his first overseas Permanent Change of Station to Incirlik, Turkey. Estellee particularly loved this assignment for the opportunities to travel in the Holy Land. Officers’ housing was a 2-bedroom single wide trailer, but it came with a maid and a gardener! Although Fred was nominally a B-47 bomber pilot, he often flew a T-33 training jet during the week, looking for interesting places from the air so that the family could hop into the Rambler station wagon and go visit them on the weekends. All four of the family enjoyed the amazing opportunities to explore Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Greece. Estellee particularly liked Beirut, which she described as the “Paris of the Middle East”.
The next assignment took the family to Loring Air Force Base, in the wilderness at the utter northeast corner of Maine. Although Estellee and the kids enjoyed the friends they met and the adventures in snow, Fred was desperate to get away from working in the brutal cold and hated flying B-52 bombers at the height of the Cold War. After two years, he volunteered to serve in Vietnam, and Estellee and the kids moved into a rental home back in Ada, OK. It was a year to remember for all. The kids had the opportunity to bond with grandparents and cousins, and Estellee decided it would be good to get her mind off the danger Fred was by getting a Master’s degree at her old Alma Mater, now a university.
When Fred finished his tour of duty in 1967, they gave him his choice of stations, and he chose Germany. He was also given the choice of traveling by air or by ocean liner, and so the Hessmans had a great adventure crossing the North Atlantic on the U.S.S. United States. The three years in Germany were one of her life’s best adventures, not only for the travels all over Europe, but for the opportunities to sing, direct children’s choirs, and accompany for the chapel choir. She participated in several musical and religious retreats every year in a hotel for US military personnel and their families overlooking the Bavarian Alps, so the lovely city of Berchtesgaden became one of her favorite places on Earth. One of her fondest memories was walking up the steep road from the city up towards the General Walker Hotel and hearing the choir sing the Hallelujah chorus by Handel.
With her kids about to begin high school and junior high, Fred and Estellee decided to return to the United States in 1970. Fred tried to go to New Mexico, where he had lived for a while during his childhood, but instead he was offered Luke Air Force Base in Arizona. Estellee was excited about a beautiful new home on base housing. She was the accompanist for the chapel choir until the director retired, and she became the director. She taught herself to play the organ, so she could play for all the chapel services, which included the all the Protestant and Catholic services, including weddings and funerals. Her legacy includes the 15 years she organized Handel’s Messiah through the chapel, and including the Church at Litchfield Park. She would hire a small orchestra and soloists, and practiced and directed these productions. One year she hired a young man from the church Lee Ann was attending in town, Mark Delavan, who went on to sing opera in New York City. He told her years later that singing for her in that production remained on his resume for many years.
Fred retired after 37 cumulative years in the Air Force. By this time, their son Rick was living and working in Heidelberg, Germany, so Fred and Estellee went for his his wedding. Fred was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and his last trip away from home was for their daughter, Lee Ann’s, wedding, to the ASU chapel. He died in 1987 in the Veterans Hospital in Phoenix. Estellee spent the long hours at his bedside those last few months, and used the time to organize the massive number of family photos into albums.
Estellee continued her music at the base chapel until she became discouraged with the many changes happening in the military. She decided to begin attending church in town, choosing Christ the Redeemer Lutheran on 43rd Avenue in Phoenix, because one of her favorite musicians, Doug Benton, played the organ there. She made many fast friends, and served as the piano accompanist, until age began to catch up with her, and she could no longer climb the steps to the choir loft. Driving to and from the church became too difficult, so she returned to her much-loved base chapel. Eventually, she even had to give that up, except for the times she could find a ride to church.
In the meantime, her children, Rick and Lee Ann, were having children of their own. As each was born, she wrote a song just for them.
She loved visiting and often being visited by Richard and Ryan in Arizona. She was had a particularly close relationship with Richard, the first grandchild. Ryan spent many summer vacations in Phoenix. Estellee would pay the grandkids generously to do yard work, and then take them to the Disney Store at the mall to buy toys with their newly earned fortunes. She loved to take them to breakfast at Mercer’s or Country Cupboard, and Ryan loved to eat a different seafood item at Lobster House each year. Several times, all of the family made it to Phoenix or to Germany for wonderful reunions of the core families. While she could, she made several trips a year to see Rick and her grandsons Patrick and Christopher in Germany, combining the family visits in her other favorite city, Heidelberg, with weekday outings to various places in Europe.
After many wonderful years and memories, however, there came the time when she couldn’t travel to see the overseas grandchildren and eventually she couldn’t easily drive to see the Arizona grandchildren either. Her last big travel adventure was a trip to Sedona and the Grand Canyon with Rick and his 2nd wife, Christina, where she was pushed along the scenic outlooks in a wheelchair.
When Rick gave her a photo of one of his telescopes in South Africa – a beautiful shot showing the southern Milky Way – she started distributing copies of the photo to sometimes random people along with a short spiritual message about the beauty of God’s Cosmos. Eventually, she started distributing free books of Hubble Telescope pictures for the same reason and with the same message – a rather expensive hobby and a very unique Christian Ministry.
One of her greatest loves was to have much-loved friends and family over to her house for choir sings. These were generally done close to her birthday (Nov. 27) or Christmas. Twenty to thirty people packed into her modest home. She directed… someone else played… and those who didn’t sing, enjoyed the live program, the good food, and fun fellowship.
Some extraordinary women came into Estellee’s life through the years to help her and care for her in her home. These included Michelle Bennett, Jackie Kludt, Judy Leutz, Jenny Stengle, and Nicole Nicosia. All shared unique bonds of faith and love with Estellee.
When Estellee finally got a great-grandchild, Patrick’s son Finn, she was able to visit him online via Skype, but the plan to have Finn come to Phoenix to visit his great-grandmother never had a chance to materialize.
This year, just as the COVID-19 virus became a global pandemic, her health took a sharp decline, and it became necessary for her to leave her beloved home. It was impossibly difficult to be quarantined and away from friends and family while in hospitals, rehab facilities, and an assisted living apartment, and the opportunities to see (mostly) her family were very few and far between. When it became clear she could not get any better, Faith Hospice came in, and immediate family were allowed to see her, two at a time. Her daughter, Lee Ann, thought it would be fitting for her to pass on Christmas, for she loved it so much, but she left this world the day after, on December 26th, 2020.
By her daughter and son, Lee Ann Powers and Frederic Victor Hessman
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