Joseph F. Lee

Joseph F. Lee, 89, longtime resident of St. Ignatius, passed away Monday, Sept. 10 at The Pines of Mission in St. Ignatius. He was the seventh of seven children born to John Ernest Lee and Lydia Lavina Longhurst Lee. He was born in Riverside, Idaho on March 11, 1923. He attended school in Bynum and St. Ignatius. At age 7 the family moved to Bynum and at age 11 to their farm in St. Ignatius. He served his country during World War II in the Merchant Marines. He was a member of the American Legion James R.W. McCarthy Post 106. On April 13, 1946 he married Doris Aletha Durrant in Salt Lake City, Utah. They rode home to St. Ignatius on Joe’s Harley Davidson motorcycle, started a dairy farm and operated it and lived there for 60 years, where they raised their four children, Vicki, Frances, Stanley and Mark. Joe was preceded in death by his parents, two brothers, Ernest and George Lee, and four sisters, Bernice Allred, Lucille Austin, Elizabeth Hogge and Blanche Simonson. He is survived by his wife Doris (Aletha) and four children, Vicki (Nick Stevenson), Frances (Delmar Carey), Stanley J. Lee (Karen) and Mark A. Lee (Caryl); nine grandchildren, Dion, Nicole, Shan, Sherie, Greg, Cassie, Chanda, Jamie and Alan; and eleven great-grandchildren, Britnee, Amanda, Jordan, Alyssa, Sarina, Brock, Kyla, Jacob, Marek, Asher and Dalton. Funeral services were held Monday, Sept. 17 at the LDS Church in St. Ignatius. Foster Funeral Home and Crematory handled the arrangements. Memorials may be sent to: Mission Valley Honor Guard or James R.W. McCarthy Post 106, c/o Homer Courville, P.O. Box 14, St. Ignatius, MT 59865.