Lee Stevens Gravely

Lee was born on November 1, 1925 in Lynchburg, VA, the daughter of Ronald Eldridge Stevens and Frances Smith Stevens. Her father was in the cotton mill business, which took the family to San Antonio, TX, and Charlotte, NC, before they settled to stay in Rocky Mount, NC, when Lee was in the third grade.

Lee went off to St. Mary’s School in Raleigh, NC, and secured enough credits to continue to Sweet Briar College, in Sweet Briar, VA, where she graduated in 1946.

In 1947, back in Rocky Mount, she married a local war hero, Lloyd Lee Gravely, Jr., who had flown 77 missions over North Africa and Europe as a B-26 bomber pilot in World War II. Lee recalled that, “We produced 4 great children, 2 girls, 2 boys in that order.”

Lee and Lee loved raising their family in Rocky Mount, and throughout their lives they treasured the community itself and the friends they made there.

Lee’s husband was in the business of exporting tobacco leaf to cigarette manufacturers around the world. This meant that he traveled a lot, and also that the family entertained tobacconists from Europe and Asia at their home during the season. Lee would credit these experiences as surely one of the reasons that beginning an import company did not frighten her and her daughters when they began a wholesale business importing Italian ceramics two years after her husband Lee’s unfortunate early death in 1981.

In 1983, Lee took her girls on a special trip to the Amalfi Coast in Italy, as it was a trip longed for over many years. There they found their first ceramics in a hotel on the first night in Positano, Italy. Days later, they decided to start Vietri, Inc. Lee remembered, “The rest of the story is like a fairy tale.”

On their Alitalia flight to Italy, Lee and her daughters met a Florentine who served as their agent for the first 9 years of the business. Lee’s girls learned about importing and warehousing from their father’s friends. Their first selling experience was the New York Tabletop Show, where they secured a tiny display space against a column near the show’s registration table in a hotel lobby. With an English pine table, a hutch and place mats borrowed from friends in the city, as well as lots of flowers, they displayed their handmade Italian ceramics.

Buyers from Neiman Marcus came by the display, liked what they saw, and placed a large order, the first one. It was at that moment that Lee and her daughters decided their new business was a “keeper.”

As much as she enjoyed her work with her daughters after her husband’s death, Lee loved supporting and encouraging her sons in their lives, families, interests, and careers. She also rejoiced in her friends, around the state and around the world. She was a loving, joyful, wise, and courageous individual, a lady of remarkable style and grace.

Lee is survived by her children, Frances Gravely, of Chapel Hill, NC; Susan Gravely and her husband, William Ross, of Chapel Hill, NC; Steve Gravely, of Pittsboro, NC; and Page Gravely, and his wife, Donna Gravely, of Middleburg, VA; Lee’s grandchildren, Susan Hargett, and her husband, Shaw Hargett, of Stockton, CA; Lee Frankstone, of Chapel Hill, NC; Roman Gravely, of Middleburg, VA; her stepgrandchildren, Amanda Ross of Chapel Hill, NC; and Rebecca Ross, of Raleigh, NC; her great grandchildren, Anderson, Carrington, and Grayson Hargett, of Stockton, CA; and her sister, Anne Allen, of Tryon, NC, and her family.

Lee’s family wishes to thank the dedicated, capable and wonderful team of caregivers who have nursed and loved Lee over the last years: Merwyn Varnado, Annie Houpe, Loretta Brewington, Carolyn Williams, Linda Flora, Nettie Burnette, Jackie Moore, Bettye Burnette, Barbara Wall, Linda Alston, Sonia Smith, Doris Hill, Magaline Pettiford, and Kwantessa Al-Amin. The family also wishes to thank Lee’s devoted and expert doctors at the UNC School of Medicine, Dr. John S. Kizer (Geriatric Medicine), Dr. Carrie Lee (Oncology), and Dr. Karyn Stitzenberg (Surgical Oncology), as well as the thoughtful, caring staff at Transitions LifeCare in Raleigh, NC.

A memorial service celebrating the life of Lee Stevens Gravely will take place at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, October 15, 2015 at the Church of the Good Shepherd, 231 N. Church Street, Rocky Mount, NC. It will be preceded by a graveside service at 10 a.m. at Pineview Cemetery, 761 North Raleigh Street Rocky Mount, NC.

The family will receive friends from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 14, 2015 at the home of Susan Gravely and Bill Ross in Chapel Hill, NC.

In lieu of flowers, please consider a gift to Transitions LifeCare, 250 Hospice Circle, Raleigh, NC 27607.

Arrangements by Brown-Wynne Funeral Home, Saint Mary's St. Raleigh, NC.