William Neil "Bill" Lee

William Neil "Bill" Lee

Funeral services for William Neil "Bill" Lee, 75, of Verden, Okla., will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, June 16, 2003, at Verden First Baptist Church. Rev. Ed Whitley will officiate.

William Neil "Bill" Lee was born Sept. 9, 1927, and died on Thursday, June 12, 2003.

Burial will be in Verden Cemetery, Verden, under the direction of McRay's Verden Funeral Home.

William Neil "Bill" Lee

Funeral service for William "Bill" Neil Lee, age 75, of Verden, Oklahoma, will be held at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, June 16, 2003, at the Verden First Baptist Church. Rev. Edward Whitley will officiate.

William "Bill" Neil Lee was born September 9, 1927, in Portland, Oregon, of Canadian parents. This gave him a duel citizenship. He chose to be a citizen of the U.S.A. when he became of age.

In 1940, at the age of 13, he joined the Canadian Pacific steamship company as a busboy on the run from Seattle, Washington, to Alaska. During the war years, he worked with the U.S. Army Transport running supplies at high tide to the troops stationed on the Aleutian Islands. He returned to Portland, Oregon, as soon as he reached the age he could enlist in the Army Air Corps. Bill served in the Counter Intelligence the last three years of enlistment.

In the spam of the five years following his discharge he simultaneously worked at a variety of interesting jobs from truck driving, short order cook, mail carrier delivering mail by boat, a logger in the forest of Coastal Oregon, ambulance driver, manager of an ice cream parlor making his own ice cream, commercial salmon fisherman and tax work for a local C.P.A.

In 1952, with the backing and encouragement from friends, he entered Willamette University in Salem, Oregon. Four years later at the age of 29, he received a B.S. degree in economics.

He was hired by State Farm to begin work in their new regional office in Salem, Oregon. Later he transferred to Kennewick, Washington, where he remained for ten years.

In 1970, hew began working for the General Adjustment Bureau and moved his family to Verden, Oklahoma, while working out of the Lawton office. Several years later he joined the Pool Mortgage Company of Chickasha.

When Pool Mortgage closed he joined Erv Hall, Independent Adjuster out of Cement until he retired to become a full time farmer.

Having missed the high school experience he was always encouraging young people to achieve the best of their ability and he believed that education was the way to reach this goal.

He was extremely honored to have received the Honorary State Farmers Award at the F. F. A. State Convention in Oklahoma City. Bill was elected to the Verden School Board from 1990 - 2000. He served with the Verden Volunteer Fire Department and Verden Cemetery board for many years. Bill was also a dedicated member of the Masonic Lodge #329, Lions Club of Verden and the American Legion of Anadarko.

Bill entered the Lords' home on June 12, 2003, with his family at his side.

He was preceded in death by his 17-year-old son, William Curtis Lee in 1970.

Survivors include: wife of 50 years: Kaye Loveless Lee of the home; daughter and son-in-law: Jennifer and Bruce Bates of Chickasha; granddaughter: Leslie Bates of Chickasha; daughter and son-in-law: Jeannette and Chris Thompson of Verden; granddaughters: Samantha and Stevie Kaye Thompson of Verden.

Interment will be in the Verden Cemetery. Services are under the direction of the McRay's Verden Funeral Home.