Nicholas Anthony Lee

On October 12th, my beloved husband, Nick, suffered a stroke. The right side of his body was paralyzed. Although he was unable to talk, he was able to give us a thumbs up or down in response to our questions. After many days in the ICU filled with hope, progress, and valiant efforts by all, severe lung issues and organ failure became insurmountable. Shocked, and with broken hearts, we had to say goodbye.

However…

On Saturdays Nick will always be at Taco Bell in Woodbury at 11:30am, to be precise. He has gone every Saturday with Daisy, to gather with her two besties from Darby Dancers and their parents. Nick greets Jose, the manager, and all the crew on a first name basis. Daisy has developmental disability and autism. Her daddy will always be her number one superhero.

On Sundays, Nick goes to church with his family. Following the tradition of his wonderful parents, Nancy and Gib Lee, Nick has raised his children to follow the Lord, to live in hope and gratitude, and embrace each new day with resiliency. Nick taught them to live without regret, pray at each meal, and end each day in family prayer with good feelings and love for each other. He taught his sons, Nick and Spencer, by his example of positivity and integrity. He taught his daughters, Daisy and Mina, through his tenderness and thoughtfulness.

On Mondays, Nick and I enjoyed the beginnings of being retired together. He gadgetized our new home in finer fashion than Inspector Gadget, himself. He spent many Mondays on the shores of Lake Superior flying his drone at our little cabin. I often checked on him with our security cameras to affirm he didn’t burn things down with his pyro maniac tendencies. On the first day we moved into our new home, he pronounced a new edict that “hitherto and henceforth, a kiss shall be bestowed at each and every parting”. I am eternally grateful for each silly, tender, endearing, and charming moment with Nick. There are so many.

On Tuesdays, Nick met up for lunch with the “Geezer Club”: the retired neighbor guys who lived in our cul-de-sac where we raised our families together for 25 years. Nick also connected with all his former 3M comrades where he worked for 35 years as a corporate researcher, project manager, and inventor of 50+ patents. He loved innovating and coming up with ideas from an entirely new approach. At work, Nick was unflappable in the face of stressful timelines, intense demands, or general corporate bruhaha - he always remained calm. He had a quote on his 3M office “You are what you do when it counts.” And he lived true to his motto. His coworkers came to appreciate that, in his calm, he would always deliver.

On Wednesdays, Nick always waved at every neighbor who walked or drove past, whether he knew them or not. He loved helping Mina decoding complex piano rhythms, answering interesting questions, and playing chess and board games with her. He loved Mina’s recitals. He played wordle and quordle with me everyday, and he obsessed over that weird NYTimes anagram game. He also took time for weekly book club with his sons, sword and knife making classes with his brother, Greg, and regularly engaged in meaningful, supportive, and humorous conversations with all his loving siblings, Peppi, Sunni, Shelly, Mike and Greg. He was so very close to all his sisters and brothers, and truly was loved. He planned frequent father/son trips to Utah to hang out with the Lee boys - his oldest son, Nicholas and his grandsons, William and Milo. He read them books, built Brio trains, helped them make rubber band pin ball games, build legos, feed the ducks, and told Herkimer Hoot or Sven and Ole stories (in full accent) just like his dad told him.

On Thursdays and most every day, Nick called his mother, Nancy, who was also his dear friend. They reminisced about his childhood, and both were able to recall all the names from his kindergarten teacher, to his Sunday school teacher, even including the babysitter. They remembered the special families and dear friends they loved in the congregations where Gib pastored in the Lutheran church. Nick was born in Fergus Falls, MN, grew up in Big Fork, MN, and Superior, Wi. Nick graduated from high school in Cloquet, MN where he met his lifelong friend, TJ. Nick dreamed of designing submarines. He even attended one year at Florida Institute of Technology to study oceanography but ultimately received a Bachelors degree and Masters degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of MN and University of California, Berkley. What his mother doesn’t know is that Nick had a Honda Goldwing at the U of M until he drove it off the end of a loading dock. (But I’m not supposed to tell anyone that.) I often heard Nick and his mom talking about working at Gordy’s Hi-Hat and the paper mill in Cloquet. After graduating college, he moved to New Jersey to work at Bell Labs, and he even sang in the Messiah choir at Carnegie hall. (That’s where I enter the story - the blonde who reminded him of his homeland in MN, and was dating his roommate.)

Friday at last. I remember Good Friday of this year, Nick came home from the U of M clinic following a vocal chord procedure to help restore his voice. He walked through the door in his most charismatic and semi-dramatic way, his arms fully outstretched and body tilted at a silly angle. Beaming, he proudly proclaimed loudly; “I Love You, Diann!” It was miraculous to hear his vibrant voice again, familiar and strong. It was the voice I have always known, the voice of my sweetheart, the voice that calmed my troubled heart, the voice that cracked me up, the voice that led and guided our family. Oh Nick, I love you so much. We all do.

With gratitude, love and devotion,

Diann Lee

Nick’s wife

Gather with us on Saturday, November 19th, at 10am. All are welcome as we honor our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ in our combined traditions of his Lutheran faith and our congregational family at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.

We welcome your memories of Nick below; honorable, stoic, silly, and pesky as they may be.

Thank you dear friends. You are so good to us.

Flowers are lovely or Nick loved supporting his favorite charity https://rivervalleyriders.salsalabs.org/afton

RVR is currently building a new indoor facility for people with disabilities to experience the joy of riding therapy.