Baker City, Oregon
George “Jimmy” Lee, 89, a longtime Baker City resident, died June 10, 2002, at Meadowbrook Place, of natural causes.
There will be a celebration of life service at 3 p.m. Friday at the First Presbyterian Church, 1995 Fourth St. Pastor Susan Barnes will officiate. Nursery service will be provided at the church.
Jimmy was born Jan. 27, 1913, at the family home at North Powder. He met and married Eileen Cochrane in 1938. They lived their 63 years of married life in the Baker area and raised three daughters.
Jimmy served in the shipyard at Bremerton, Wash., during World War II until lung ailments necessitated three months recovery time in the mountains at Anthony Lake.
For a number of years, they lived at North Powder where Jim owned and operated a grocery store/meat locker plant. North Powder was a terrific place to live, according to the Lees.
In about 1954, they moved to Baker City and for the rest of Jim’s working years, he sold cameras and small appliances at Levinger Rexall Drugs. Many folks remember him behind the camera counter. He retired from Levinger’s in 1977.
Jim was a member of a number of community organizations: Masonic Lodge No. 47, AF&AM, Scottish Rite of Freemasonry and was a 32-degree member; Al Kader Shrine Temple; life member of Baker Elks Lodge., No. 338; Lions Club; and the Chamber of Commerce. Jim was active in the Presbyterian Church serving on many boards and committees over the years.
His avocation and great love was music. He had a lovely tenor voice. From the time he was a young boy, Jim sang for friends’ weddings, anniversaries and funerals. He sang in choirs when in school from high school at Powder Valley until college at Eastern Oregon Normal School. Jim sang in the Presbyterian Church Choir for many years. Most recently he loved the sing-a-longs at Meadowbrook.
Survivors are his wife of 63 years, Eileen; daughters and sons-in-law, Luanne Lee and Cliff Weeks of Brookings, Patricia and Tom Hunt of Ketchikan, Alaska, and Marilyn and Steve Carnine of Portland; grandchildren, Brooke and Jim and their families; a niece, Carolyn, and a nephew, Brill.
He was preceded in death by his parents; his brother, Delbert; and a grandson, Scott.
Memorial contributions may be made to the First Presbyterian Church Building Fund or Pathway Hospice through Coles Funeral Home, 1950 Place St., Baker City, OR 97184.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, June 18, 2002
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor