Hester Tullos Herring died February 17, 2019, at the age of 98 in Gulfport, MS. Mrs. Herring was born December 14, 1920, in Neshoba County, MS. She graduated from Dixon High School. She moved to Gulfport in 1942 and met and married her beloved husband James C. Herring in 1946. They raised two children in the Gulfport community where she was a charter member of the Orange Grove Auxiliary and Cub Scout Den Mother. She was a great dancer and was a member of the Star Twirlers Square Dance Club and Arthur Murray Dance Club. She was a member of the Krewe of Gemini. In her youth she was an All Star basketball player. Hester loved people and never met a stranger. She was an accomplished quilter and gardener. Her children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will long remember her famous “chewy bars”.
She was preceded in death by her husband of 53 years, James Carl Herring, her parents Ingram and Ida Tullos, her son Larry Wayne Herring, great grandson Brandt Gable, a sister Narvelle Tullos Salter, and four brothers, Wiburn Tullos, Harold Tullos, Woodrow Tullos and Verdell Tullos. She is survived by her son James Ronald Herring and his wife Ginny of Ocean Springs, two grandsons, Jeremy Herring of Biloxi, and Jamie Ingram Herring and his wife Tracie of Ocean Springs, three granddaughters, Hollee Herring Gable and her husband Caleb of Biloxi, Genna Herring McQuilkin of Ocean Springs, and Ashley Hicks of Summertown, TN, and seven great grandchildren, James Mathe, Mattie Hicks, Gehrig Herring, Lane Gable, Hendrix McQuilken, Maxwell Herring, and Kase Gable. She is also survived by many nieces and nephews. She was a favorite aunt to Becky Nijoka and Donna Bobinger, a dear friend and cousin.
Mrs. Herring has been a longtime member of Nugent Methodist Church, Gulfport, MS. A service will be held at 11:30 a.m. on Thursday, February 21, 2019, at the O’Neal Road Chapel of Bradford O’Keefe Funeral Home, 15452 O’Neal Road, Gulfport, MS, with a visitation from 11:00 to 11:30 a.m. She will be laid to rest in Floral Hills Memorial Gardens.