Joy and Gray had two children, a son named Peregrine in 1951, and a daughter Fern in 1954. The couple married in 1959. Joy also previously had a son named Sweeny, who was adopted by Sunday and John Reed when he was three, because Joy was told she would soon die of cancer. . After a period of remission Hester suffered a relapse of Hodgkin's lymphoma in 1956 and died on 4 December 1960, aged 40. Hester was laid to rest at the Box Hill Cemetery in an unmarked grave, at her behest.