Lester F. Wright

Lester Mae, Baby Doll, Polly, Mommy, Lester, Councilwoman Wright, Lady Wright, Yellowbird, Grandma, Les.

She just believed God.

Lester Mae Frazier was born in Keiser, Arkansas on May 7, 1938, the only child of Hannah Sellers and Lester Frazier. Nicknamed “Baby Doll,” her grandfather carried her on his shoulders so that her feet never touched the ground. After completing kindergarten, Lester Mae followed her parents to Ohio in 1943 and acquired her second nickname, “Polly” from a maternal uncle. Raised by an extremely loving, but also working, single mom after her parents’ divorce, Les became self-reliant, pennywise, and ambitious. She graduated from Columbus East High School in 1955 at the age of 17.

In 1960, she married Cornelius “Neil” Wright and a year later gave birth to their daughter, Elisse (Lisa). Six years later, a son, Cornelius Wright, Jr. (Tim) followed. Despite her small family, Les’ home, like her mother’s, was always a welcoming gathering place to play cards, eat, drink, dance, and laugh. There

were often more than forty friends, family members, and neighbors for Thanksgiving dinners and summer yard parties. Their home was so popular on weekends that one of Les’ friends initially thought that “Polly and Neil’s” was the name of a bar. During a holiday visit, one of Lisa’s college friends noted that her mother was getting pretty rambunctious playing bid whist and suggested cutting her mom off, assuming that she’d been drinking. Lisa laughingly informed her friend that her mommy never drank alcohol, she was just loud.

Lester began her career as a clerk at the Pilgrim Elementary School before moving into corporate America as a steno clerk at the Columbus and Southern Ohio Electric Company, now American Electric Power. She rose through the ranks helping so many people get electric company jobs along the way that she was like a one-woman staffing agency. It was at the electric company that she began her 40-year friendship with former Columbus City Council President, Jerry Hammond, who started as her boss, but soon became her big brother, mentor, and business partner. Together, they became entrenched in Democratic party politics, meeting everyone from Vernon Jordan to Bill Clinton. And while Jerry may have been the face of the partnership over its first two decades, Les was always its heart.

A lifelong advocate for women and children, Lester Mae taught in the nursery school at Trinity Baptist Church for more than 35 years. Les also founded three organizations focused on women and children: the Alliance of Black Women, in 1982, to encourage black women to seek political office, and Corporate Sisters, in 1995, a networking group to support and empower black women working in the corporate and public sectors. In 1992, concerned about the impact violent imagery in the media had on children, she created Strategies Against Violence Everywhere (SAVE), a nonprofit clearinghouse for community-based initiatives focused on violence prevention. Its signature event, the SAVE awards, showcased and celebrated videos written by and starring Columbus public school children to promote peaceful conflict resolution.

SAVE was recognized by the Clinton White House for its innovative approach to reducing juvenile violence. In 1990, Les became the first Black woman to serve on the Columbus City Council. Elected

twice, she served as President Pro Tem in her second term and garnered national recognition for her innovative work with law enforcement and the juvenile courts to address school truancy through a variety of programs, including midnight basketball in local church gymnasiums. These efforts resulted in her

selection to co-chair the National League of Cities’ Task Force on Youth, Education, and Families and an appearance on the ABC news magazine, PrimeTime Live. Her awards from local civic, community, women’s, and youth groups are too numerous to mention.

Even in retirement, Les continued to represent Columbus as a Joint Venture Partner for the John Glenn

International Airport with the Paradies-Lagardere company, one of the country’s largest airport retailers.

Retirement also brought the long-awaited blessing of the birth of her two granddaughters, Ava and Hannah.

Les was an avid collector of blown glass and African and African American art, including works by

Columbus artists like Aminah Robinson. She was also a cutthroat bid whist player, who loved cute shoes, Fourth of July fireworks, convertible cars, NBA basketball, and gospel music. Like her husband, Les was a clotheshorse who never let her small stature get in the way of a good outfit. In the winter she wore leather and fur with big scarves and broaches. In the summer, she wore linen and silk with straw hats and

baseball caps.

Les had a special ability to transcend labels (perhaps because she had so many) which made her comfortable with people of every income, age, class, education-level, and status. In a single day in Columbus, she could have breakfast with the mayor, lunch at an all-you-can-eat cafeteria, and dinner at the hottest new downtown restaurant. During her recent visits to Columbus, she kept a schedule that would have exhausted a person half her age, being feted and celebrated for her contributions to the city,

including being inducted into the Columbus Hall of Fame in 2023 and serenaded at the Martin Luther King Center Heritage Music Festival in 2024. It was also true that there were few places in the United States she could go where some seemingly random person didn’t suddenly appear shouting “Les Wright” as they ran to greet her.

Most of all, Les loved her family, her community, and the Lord. Even after she was diagnosed with dementia, she never stopped wanting to help and serve, sharing a warm smile and worn copies of The Daily Word with people she met at senior gatherings around Houston.

Preceded in death by her parents, husband, and brothers, Les passed away peacefully in the early hours of November 2, her two children by her side, after suffering a stroke on October 23. Her big, beautiful, amazing life on this earth came to an end, but her legacy never will.

She leaves to mourn her son, Cornelius Wright, Jr. and daughter-in-law, Rhonda; daughter, Elisse Barnes; granddaughters, Ava, Hannah, and Lyric Clark (Jacovon); sister, Yolanda Johnson; aunt Ann Dargan, and many family members and friends who will love and miss her until they meet again in heaven.

A Celebration of Life for Lester will be held Tuesday, November 11, 2025 11:00 AM at The Church Without Walls, 5725 Queenston Blvd. Houston Texas 77084.