Roxie Hyatt

Roxie Hyatt was married to one of Leo Fender’s early sales representatives, Harold Hyatt. Harold first worked for his brother, Dale, who Leo hired in the late 1940s. After working for Dale for several years, Harold was officially hired as a salesman in 1965 and stayed with the guitar maker until 1985. Roxie was, as she put it, “his girl Friday,” helping to organize his trips and writing his correspondence with music dealers. She even traveled with him on occasion while holding on to her own full-time job, first in the aerospace industry and later with Walmart's Real Estate Division. Roxie donated a very unique piano to the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music that Harold Rhodes played in her California home in 1981. Also donated to the museum was a photograph, which shows Mr. Fender standing as Mr. Rhodes plays her Fender-Rhodes piano!