Obituary of Virginia Lee

Virginia Dare Lee, 90, of Lake Havasu City, passed away Dec. 24 at home under hospice care. Virginia was born to Earl and Edana Myrtle Hamilton in Charleston, WV, Aug. 13, a Friday, 1926. Virginia graduated from Bidwell-Porter High School in Ohio. She was a telephone operator in Dayton, OH during WWII. After the war she ran her grandfather's gas station in Porter, Ohio. She married Robert Elmer Lee, June 16, 1952 in Gallipolis, Ohio, and went to Presque Isle, Maine, where Bob served in the Air Force. In 1958 the family, with sons John Randal and Robert Eric, moved to California. Virginia ran her own ceramic shop in Merced, near Castle AFB, and when stationed at Vandenberg AFB near Lompoc, CA, she run the base's ceramic shop to acclaim, judged by the USAF to be the best, the model for all other ceramic shops on all Air Force bases. Managers of other shops came to Vandenberg to learn from her. While in the military they once had to move eight times in eight years, so she lived in Cheyenne, WY and Wichita, KS before Robert retired in 1971 then they moved back to Lompoc, CA. Together they started the Hour Shoppe, to sell and repair antique clocks, a business that developed into a mostly antique furniture shop. Virginia worked to restore antiques to museum display quality. Up to three times a year she and Bob flew to Upper State New York to fill two large U-Hauls with antiques and she drove one back to California. After retiring from the antique furniture business in 1989, they moved in 1992 to Lake Havasu City. She was active in the Lake Havasu Coin Club specializing in pennies to become known as the "Penny Lady." She is survived by her husband of 64 years, son, Robert Eric, and five grandchildren who knew her as "Mamaw." A memorial service will be held at Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home, January 4, 2017 at 3:00pm. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to any Hospice Care facility. Services were placed in the care of Lietz-Fraze Funeral Home. Thoughts and condolences can be sent to the Lee family at www.lietz-frazefuneralhome.com.