John Raymond Lee

John Raymond Lee was the son of John Nelson Lee and Malissa Keziah (Rollins) Lee, and was born in Minersville, Utah in 1877. He married Annie Eliza Keele in Panaca, Nevada, April 22, 1896, and they had 14 children. Annie died one year after the birth of her last child born in 1920. John then married Hattie (Theobald) Bliss in 1924 in Delta, Utah, and they had 2 sons, but she died a month after the birth of their second son who drowned in a well when he was just a year and a half old. Hattie had previously been married to Norman Bliss and had 9 children with him before her marriage to John. Mr. Bliss had died in 1919. John married Mary Elizabeth (Lowe) Lemmon in 1934.

Obituary of John Raymond Lee: Willard, Box Elder County -- John Raymond Lee, 85, Willard, died of a heart ailment Friday morning in a Tooele hospital. Born August 27, 1877, in Minersville, Beaver County, Utah, to John Nelson and Mellisa Keziah (Rollins) Lee. He married Annie Eliza Keele in Panaca, Nevada, in 1896, and they had 14 children. She died September 22, 1921. He then married Hattie Bliss in 1924 in Delta, and they had two sons, but she died 1927. He then married Mary Lemmon in 1934. She died in January, 1963. He was an active member, Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. John was was an orchard farmer and had farmed in various other Utah and Nevada communities.

Survivors: sons, daughters; Mrs. Albert (Myrtle Idonna) Kesler, Tooele; Mrs. Mervin (Ada) Edwards, Minersville; Jessie Lee, Delta; Harold Lee, Kearns; Mrs Estella Edwards, Cedar City; Mrs. Hans (Melba) Claussen and Mrs. Margaretta Duncan, Winock, Washington; Mrs. John (Mae) Munson, Belflower, California; Miss Dessie Lee, Douglas, Arizona; Leo Lee, San Bernardino, California; 83 grandchildren; 60 great-grandchildren; 12 great-great-grandchildren; two brothers, Lester, Panaca; Porter, Caliente, Nevada; stepchildren, Earl Lemmon, Las Vegas; Ira and Orvin Lemmon, both Willard; Cleon, Anaheim, California; Mrs. Esther Stolker, Blackfoot, Idaho; Mrs. Genova Robinson, Los Angeles, California.

Funeral Tuesday, 11 a.m., in Willard LDS Chapel. Friends may call at Harold B. Felt Funeral Home, Brigham City, Monday, 7-9 p.m., and at chapel 9 a.m. until service. Burial in Delta Cemetery. Salt Lake City.

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In the 1880 U.S. Federal Census for Panaca, Lincoln, Nevada, John was listed with his parents and siblings as follows in the census record: John N., 38, Melissa K., 28, Jane E., 10, Ada M., 8, Mary E., 6, John R., 5, James H., 2, Ida D. Lee, 9 months, and also living with them was Dionitia Walker, 64, who was Melissa's aunt. Dionitia was the sister of Melissa's mother, Eveline (Walker) Rollins.

In the 1900 census for Panaca, Lincoln County, Nevada, John was working as a farm laborer, and was listed in the census record with his wife and children as follows: (John) Raymond Lee, 22, Annie E., 18, Myrtle Lee, 3, Ada E., 2, and Jesse R., 9 months old. They owned their own home which was free from a mortgage.

By 1910, they were living in White Pine, Nevada, John was working as a farmer and was listed in the census record with his family as follows: John R., 32, Annie E., 29, Myrtle I., 13, Ada E., 12, Jesse R., 10, L. Burdette, 9, James H., 7, Stella, 6, Melba, 5, Guy W., 3, and Margarette, 1 year old. When John completed his U.S. World War I Draft Registration card on September 12, 1918, he was working as a farmer for H.J. Mortensen in Parowan.

In 1920, John and his family were living still in Parowan, Iron County, Utah. John was working as a farmer and was listed in the census record with his family as follows: John, 43, Annie, 39, Jesse R., 20, James H., 17, Melba, 14, Guy W., 13, Margaretta, 11, Lester E., 7, Ida M., 5, and Elzada, 2 years old. Sadly, John's wife Annie died in 1921, one year after the birth of her 14th child, a daughter, Edessa, born in June of 1920. More tragedy came when their daughter, Elzada, died February 13, 1925, from peritonitis due to a ruptured appendix, when she was only 7 years old.

Some time before the 1930 census, John had moved back to Nevada and was living in McGill, White Pine County, and was working as the foreman of a copper foundry mill. He was listed there with his children as follows: John R., 53, Lester N., 18, Ida Mae, 14, Edessa, 9, and Leo J., 4. John had married his second wife, Harriet, in 1924, and they had two sons, Leo and Otto, but Harriet died in 1927. Sadly their son Otto died in 1928 when he was only a year and a half old as a result of drowning in a well or an irrigation ditch.

On March 17, 1933, in Logan, Utah, John married his 3rd wife, Mary Elizabeth (Lowe) Lemon. Her first husband, Alexander Abraham Lemon, had died in 1915, with whom she had 10 children. By 1940 John was living in Willard, Box Elder, Utah, and was working as a farmer. He owned his own home which was valued at $2,500. He had an 8th grade education and had worked 65 hours per week during the week prior to the census. He was 62 years old, and living with him was wife, Mary, 71, his son, Leo J., 15 years old, and his cousin, Lucy E. Bateman, a 69-year old widow.

When John completed his U.S. World War II Draft Registration card in 1942 he was 64 years old, living in Willard, Utah, and was still working as a farmer. He listed the name of the person who would always know his address as Earl Lemon, his wife Mary's son. His name on the registration card was listed as John Raymon Lee not John Raymond Lee. At the time he was 5'-7" tall, weighed 200 pounds, with gray hair, blue eyes, and a ruddy complexion.

According to the U.S. Social Security Death Index record for John, he died in July of 1963 and his last residence was in California. However, his Find A Grave.com memorial showed that he died in a Tooele, Utah, hospital of a heart ailment. His name is shown as John Raymond Lee on his Find A Grave.com memorial.

John's wife, Mary Elizabeth, died at the age of 93 on February 3, 1962, and was buried in the Willard Cemetery with her first husband. John died the following year, July 19, 19563, at the age of 85 and was buried in the Delta Cemetery with his first wife, Annie. His second wife, Harriet, was buried in the Hinckley City Cemetery in Hinckley, Utah, with her firs husband Normal Ingles Bliss.

John's last surviving son, Leo J. Lee, born in 1925, died in 2017, at the age of 91, with his wife of 68 years, Helen Harrop, at his side. They had 6 children, 16 grandchildren and 36 great grandchildren. Leo served as a Lt. Col. in the Army Air Corps during World War II, and his military career spanned over 26 years, flying 29 different aircraft and being the 18th pilot to successfully eject from a disabled aircraft. He retired in 1970 and then earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from Chapman University, and also a Master's degree. He retired after 23 years of teaching and was one of the first Apple computer specialists for the Adelanto School District and the High Desert School District.