Hazel Elizabeth Hester (June 1, 1923 – December 26, 1998) was an American correspondent of influential twentieth-century writers, including

Flannery O'Connor Mary Flannery O'Connor (March 25, 1925August 3, 1964) was an American novelist, short story writer and essayist. She wrote two novels and 31 short stories, as well as a number of reviews and commentaries. She was a Southern writer who often ...

and

Iris Murdoch Dame Jean Iris Murdoch ( ; 15 July 1919 – 8 February 1999) was an Irish and British novelist and philosopher. Murdoch is best known for her novels about good and evil, sexual relationships, morality, and the power of the unconscious. Her fi ...

. Hester wrote several short stories, poems, diaries, and philosophical essays, none of which were published.

Biography

Hester was born in

Rome, Georgia Rome is the largest city in and the county seat of Floyd County, Georgia, United States. Located in the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, it is the principal city of the Rome, Georgia metropolitan area, Rome, Georgia, metropolitan statisti ...

, and attended

Young Harris College Young Harris College is a private Methodist-affiliated liberal arts college in Young Harris, Georgia, United States. History Origins The school was founded in 1886 by Artemas Lester, a circuit-riding Methodist minister who wanted to pr ...

. She served in the

U.S. Air Force The United States Air Force (USAF) is the air service branch of the United States Armed Forces, and is one of the eight uniformed services of the United States. Originally created on 1 August 1907, as a part of the United States Army Signal ...

Wiesbaden, Germany Wiesbaden () is a city in central western Germany and the capital of the state of Hesse. , it had 290,955 inhabitants, plus approximately 21,000 United States citizens (mostly associated with the United States Army). The Wiesbaden urban area ...

, shortly after

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

( 1948–53). She was dishonorably discharged for having an illicit sexual affair with a woman. After her discharge from the Air Force, she moved to

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. Hester spent most of her life in a small

Midtown Atlanta Midtown Atlanta, or Midtown, is a high-density commercial and residential neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. The exact geographical extent of the area is ill-defined due to differing definitions used by the city, residents, and local business ...

apartment. She worked for Atlanta-based Retail Credit Company, commuting every day by bus. She struggled with

alcoholism Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol (drug), alcohol that results in significant Mental health, mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognize ...

and bouts of depression. She was also a

lesbian A lesbian is a Homosexuality, homosexual woman.Zimmerman, p. 453. The word is also used for women in relation to their sexual identity or sexual behavior, regardless of sexual orientation, or as an adjective to characterize or associate n ...

, which she only admitted to her closest friends. Hester is best known for her nine-year correspondence and friendship with Southern fiction writer

. From 1955 to 1964, Hester and O'Connor exchanged nearly 300 letters, some of which are published in Sally Fitzgerald's 1979 compilation of O'Connor's correspondence, ''The Habit of Being''. Hester, a very private and reclusive woman, asked that her identity be kept secret in the published letters; thus, she appears as "A". Hester first wrote to O'Connor in July 1955, when O'Connor was working on her second novel, ''

The Violent Bear it Away ''The Violent Bear It Away'' is a 1960 novel by American author Flannery O'Connor. It is the second and final novel that she published. The first chapter was originally published as the story "You Can't Be Any Poorer Than Dead" in the journal '' ...

''. Eager to exchange thoughts and ideas with someone of equal intellectual caliber, O'Connor wrote back, "I would like to know who this is who understands my stories." O'Connor felt that she and Hester shared a spiritual kinship, and O'Connor would later become Hester's confirmation sponsor in the

Catholic Church The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

. Hester left the Church in 1961 and turned to

agnosticism Agnosticism is the view or belief that the existence of God, of the divine or the supernatural is unknown or unknowable. (page 56 in 1967 edition) Another definition provided is the view that "human reason is incapable of providing sufficient ...

. This news was a grave disappointment for O'Connor,: "I don't know anything that could grieve us here like this news. I know that what you do you do because you think it is right, and I don't think any the less of you outside the Church than in it, but what is painful is the realization that this means a narrowing of life for you and a lessening of the desire for life." who had engaged Hester in theological dialogues and tried to sustain her friend's faith. Hester gave her letters to

Emory University Emory University is a private research university in Atlanta, Georgia. Founded in 1836 as "Emory College" by the Methodist Episcopal Church and named in honor of Methodist bishop John Emory, Emory is the second-oldest private institution of ...

in 1987 on the condition that they be sealed for twenty years. They were released to the public on May 12, 2007. Hester died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound on December 26, 1998, in Atlanta, at the age of 75.

Biography

Notes

Works cited

Further reading