Evelyn K. Kagey Lee

Evelyn was born in the home of General Stonewall Jackson in Lexington, Virginia. As a young child she had a love for journalism. She showed early interests in writing influenced by her Grandfather who was a newspaper publisher and business by her Father who was the President of the People’s National Bank. Evelyn went on to graduate from Sweet Briar College with a degree in Economics. After graduating from college she met her future husband Johnson Lee, an immigrant from China who came to attended Virginia Military Institute at a football game and quickly fell in love. They married in 1949, however interracial marriages were deemed illegal at the time in Virginia and therefore they had to travel to the state of Kentucky to get married. They had 7 children together and many relatives in China from their marriage. Evelyn was the only child of Benjamin and Bernice Kagey.

After getting married while raising a family Evelyn began her career as a newspaper journalist in Southern Connecticut. She covered many stories in the area and was known to get stories in the local community before anyone else. After working several years for the Darien Review and numerous Fairfield County newspapers she decided to start her own business and became a publisher of a small newspaper called the Windsor Locks Journal. She then went on to start a 2nd newspaper call the Windsor Journal and eventually a 3rd newspaper called the Bloomfield Journal. She employed many people in her community including 3 family members. After many years of running these newspapers Evelyn sold her business to the Hartford Courant in Connecticut.

In the early 1990’s Ms. Lee moved to China to teach English. After teaching several years she realized the need for better educational books in China. She to move to Tucson, AZ and started a new company called Amer-Asia Books, Inc. to fill the need for better books in China. Her business flourished and she began to get requests to sell books worldwide. With the help of her son Jonathan they started a new company called Global Book Rights with the goal of selling quality books worldwide that continues to this day.

In recent years Evelyn was active in the Tucson, AZ community and resided at Hill Farm. She was the President of the Hill Farm Home Owners Association. In addition, she was a regular of the Hill Farm Ladies Social Club, The Tucson Racquet Club, The Society of Southwest Authors and, until recently was seen every morning riding a bike at Chuze Fitness. She took some time to travel with her good friend Hughlett Morris and often enjoyed social events together for the past 15 years.

Continuing to reside in Tucson are her sons Jonathan and Andrew. In Hawaii Eva, California Julia, Connecticut Tom, Massachusetts Virginia and Mary. Including eleven grandchildren.