Teresa "Tess" Lee

I was born on May 19, 1929, just before the Great Depression. My roots are planted in the river bottom land of the O’Field Community in Delaware County. My loving parents raised my two brothers, my sister and me on a farm along the Grand River, before it was flooded to create Grand Lake. My parents worked from dusk ‘til dawn to provide for us. They sang while they worked, even through hard times. For our family, depression times were the best of times and we knew not what we were missing but what were full of: a world of the very French DuBois family, loving neighbors and fine friends. All along, our church community was the fabric that wove us together.

I have fond memories of the one-room schoolhouse I attended before receiving my high school education at Grove Schools. I made dear and lifelong friends there, creating our own special group called the “2-7-2 Club.” I never forgot the day I met the love of my life on the school bus, James W (Bill) Lee. World War II took Bill away from me for two years, but when he came home, his service provided us with college educations from Oklahoma State University. We were married in Stillwater in the mid-40s and started our family there. As new parents we moved back to Grove, then to Pittsburg, Kansas, on to Oklahoma City and back to Tulsa where we raised our family that had grown to include five lovely girls. In Tulsa, we anchored our family to Southern Hills Baptist Church where friendships developed quickly. Doug Manning, Tot French and Peggy Hinkle were among those life-long friends.

I loved being a homemaker and one of my proudest accomplishments was raising five daughters in the 1960s. It was the most enjoyable, richest and challenging part of my life. Bill and I made it our goal to ensure all of our girls had the opportunity to attend college and I am proud to say they all did. I can remember welcoming them home to my (rather famous) traveling roast which was always a hit. The sisterhood that began in our Tulsa home eventually evolved into the “ChaCha Sisterhood,” which included my daughters and their daughters, of which I was “The Grand PooBaba.” Oh the fun times and shenanigans we had: April Fools jokes and grand Christmas celebrations which sometimes included live reindeer in my living room and always included a real Santa to deliver gifts. Outside of the home, one of my proudest accomplishments was representing The Welcome Wagon for the State of Oklahoma.

Sadly, the love of my life died too young, when he was just 59 years old. I spent the last thirty years of my life as a single grandmother. While I missed Bill dearly, I thoroughly enjoyed watching our 13 grandchildren grow up and admired the young people they each became. I spent 18 summers in a cozy cottage at Pebble Beach, California, and often welcomed family to enjoy the West Coast with me. I enjoyed ballroom dancing and am proud to say I won a first place trophy for dancing the tango. As I moved into my older years, I was blessed with 13 more great-grandchildren to enjoy and did so until I was ready to leave this Earth. I died exactly how I had hoped to, peacefully, in my sleep, surrounded by my girls.

In the end I have tried not to look back, only forward. I am leaving this world with a strong and fun-loving group of women and their own families, which I am so proud of. Education is important. Love is life. Love each other.
Survived by Janet Gann, Lynne Siano, Terry Lee, Debby Burns, Billie Lee and families.