Inducted 2011

Benefactors: Friends Of The SGMA

Born November 23, 1906, Opal “Bobo” Alene Lumeart played the old-fashioned pump organ for a small Baptist Church in Hayti, MO.  She met Harvey B. Lester in 1922.  On December 7, 1924, they were married and moved to St. Louis, MO.  In 1925, they started what is now a Gospel Music Ministry in its 86^th year, spanning 4 generations.  Harvey and Opal had one child, Herschel Lumeart Lester, who fell right into beat with his parents, playing all musical instruments, singing and even became a teacher later in life.  The Lesters loved being together as a family, singing and playing Gospel Music wherever they went.  Opal was a wonderful teacher and taught hundreds of private music lessons every year from their music store in St. Louis, even up to the weeks just before she passed away in April of 1999 at age 92.  She loved to promote Gospel Concerts in different venues around the St. Louis area such as: The St. Louis House, The Keil Opra House, The Kingsland Theater, The Shrine Mosque in Springfield, MO and, of course, Meramec Caverns in Stanton, MO.  People like J.D Sumner, James Blackwood, Hovie Lister, Glen Payne, George Younce, Jerry Goff, Ed O’Neal, Duane Allen, Joe Moscheo and countless others knew they could call Bobo Lester in St. Louis and she would try her best to get a crowd to hear them sing.  Opal was also responsible for her family having a weekly thirty minute television show on the NBC affiliate KSDK in St. Louis. The family recorded four pilot shows and the response was so great, The Lester Family Sings was on the air for 27 years.  She joins her beloved husband, Harvey B. Lester, and son, Herschel L. Lester, in the SGMA Hall of Fame, being recognized for pioneering the Gospel of Christ with her family in Gospel Music Ministry.  The Lesters, now 3^rd and 4^th generations, continue to travel and sing.