Edna Miller Hennessee

Edna Miller Hennessee (March 24, 1919 – March 24, 2011) was an American businesswoman from the U.S. state of Oklahoma who founded Cosmetic Specialty Labs.

Early life and family Edna Miller Hennessee was born on March 24, 1919, to Henry and Elsie Miller in Ryan, Oklahoma. She attended Union High School and was the valedictorian in 1936. In 1939 she married Lloyd Roy Hennessee and moved to Lawton, Oklahoma.

Career In 1944, Hennessee purchased a Merle Norman franchise. In 1950, she opened the Hennessee Family Center beauty salon in Lawton. In 1973, she started her company, Cosmetic Specialty Labs. In 1982, she founded Dream Valley Farm as a subsidiary of Cosmetic Specialty Labs to grow aloe vera plants. She was appointed to the state vocational-technology board in 1989 by Gov. Henry Bellmon. Governor David Walters appointed her to the Oklahoma Commission for the Advancement of Science and Technology and Frank Keating named her to the Board of Vocational and Technical Education in 1995. Part of Oklahoma State Highway 58 was named the Edna Hennessee Memorial Highway in her honor in 2014. As of 2019, Cosmetic Specialty Labs was owned by her granddaughter, Jennifer Ellis.