Richard Ben Lee, age 54, passed away suddenly on August 9, 1997 in Jenner, California.

He was born July 21, 1943 in Columbus, Georgia, USA to Richard and Kate Lee. Richard spent his early years as an "army brat," living all over the United States and in Austria. At age 16, he began college at the University of California- Berkeley. He spent one year there and then transfered to the University of San Francisco where he spent the next two years. When he was 19 he told his family he was tired of people telling him what to do so he joined the Air Force. :-) He was stationed in Minot, North Dakota, USA and flew to Vietnam every week during the war to arm the warheads used there.

After Richard left the Air Force, he decided he was really tired of people telling him what to do so he became a hippie and after a few years of roaming around the country, he married Pamela Reasonover on September 20, 1975 in Jenner, California and went to work for a chemical company. While there he was a Quality Control Engineer and he participated in the testing of a pesticide called 2-4-D. In the spring of 1976, Richard became unexplainably ill and after six weeks of tests he was diagnosed with "industrial-caused" leukemia. In the next three years Richard went through five rounds of chemotherapy before he finally went into remission. And in 1980, Richard had a bone marrow transplant and came through with flying colors.

He received a large monetary settlement from the chemical company and after years of traveling the world and enjoying his new lease on life, Richard finished his bachelor's degree and went to law school.

In the last two years of his life, Richard worked for the San Francisco District Attorney's office as a lawyer in the support enforcement department, tracking down fathers who were delinquent in their child support payments.

But he suffered for years from the side effects of his chemotherapy, and it was those side effects which took him from us suddenly.

Richard was preceded in death by his father, Richard. He is survived by his mother, Kate; his wife, Pam; his sisters, Bobbie, Kathy, Eileen, and Mary; his brothers, Robert, Michael, and Patrick; his neices, Jennifer, Melissa, Debbie, Melissa, and Mary Kate; his nephews Daryl and Sean; his grand-neices, Jonelle and Jensen; and his grand-nephews, Joshua, Corey, and Lucas.

On a more personal note, when my parents got divorced, Richard and Pam drove to Montana and took my mom, sister, and I camping in Glacier Park to cheer us up. He was without a doubt, one of the most important men in my life, not only because he continued to help my mom out, but also because he could always make me laugh. He was a kind man, and perhaps I've romanticized his memory a bit, but if anyone deserves it...he does. I saw him many other times while I was growing up, after I married, though, I saw him less and less, but I kept in contact with him through letters, and he still never failed to make me laugh.

At Richard's request there was no funeral and I have debated whether or not I should put up this page, but this is my goodbye to him-- my memorial for him. Not being able to attend a funeral, I have found it difficult to find "closure" and this is one place I am searching for that. This page is dedicated to my entire family and to my uncle, Richard, I hope he found the peace and freedom from pain in death that he could not find in life. He shall be greatly missed.

Thank you for visiting.

I'm going to live my life
Like every day's the last,
Without a simple good-bye
It all goes by so fast.

Now that you're gone,
I can't cry hard enough--
No, I can't cry hard enough,
For you to hear me now.