Joyce Hester

Funeral services for Mrs. Joyce Ann Hayes Hester, age 76 of Cookeville will be held Tuesday March 21 at 1 p.m. in the Cookeville Chapel of Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home. Entombment will follow in Crest Lawn Cemetery. Rev. Martin Thielen will officiate. Her family will receive friends Monday from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. and Tuesday from 11 a.m. until time of services at the funeral home. Mrs. Hester died Wednesday March 15, 2016 in Vanderbilt Medical Center in Nashville. She was born October 19, 1940 in Albany, Kentucky to the late Jonathan Edwin and Effie Gleah Wright Pickens. Joyce was a member of Cookeville First United Methodist Church and Cookeville Noon Rotary Club. Joyce was a graduate of Clinton County High School in Albany, Kentucky and received her BS Degree in Education from Trevecca Nazarene University in Nashville. She was a classroom teacher for several years in the Memphis City School System teaching at Cummings Elementary and Jackson Elementary Schools. While in Memphis, she received numerous awards including Teacher of The Year. She retired as State Regional Director for the Tennessee Department of Education. In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by sister, Peggy Winningham; and five brothers, Bruce, Jack, J.E., Wayne and Charles Franklin Pickens. Survivors include her daughter, Michelle Hayes and granddaughter Courtney Cuevas both of Pass Christian, MS; sister, Patsy Skipworth of Detroit, MI; brother, Joe Pickens of Alban, KY; and several nieces and nephews. In lieu of flowers, her family suggest memorial donations be made to the Joyce Hester Memorial Scholarship Fund at TTU PO Box 1915, Cookeville, TN 38505. Hooper-Huddleston & Horner Funeral Home in charge of arrangements (931) 526-6111. You may share your thoughts and memories at www.hhhfunerals.com.