Lee was born on February 23, 1944 at the tail end of World War II in Batesburg, S.C. to Leon and Betty Matthews.
Lee stood out as exceptional in any setting. She graduated from Batesburg High School as Valedictorian of her class in 1962, voted “Most Likely to Succeed” by her classmates. The first in her family to pursue a college degree, she was accepted to Duke University, where she received a Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry and a minor in Math in 1966. Along the way she won the state pageant to represent South Carolina in the Miss America competition!
While she began her career in the early years of the North Carolina “Research Triangle”, in 1967 she came to Evansville, IN to work at Mead Johnson as a research chemist, just before its 1968 merger with Bristol Myers tripled the company’s annual business and made it a world-renowned pharmacological giant. In 1975, she took a position in Quality Control for the flagship product, Enfamil baby formula, where she was eventually promoted to Senior Quality Compliance Auditor. Her rise through the ranks involved frequent national and international travel to audit supply chains and their processes to ensure the highest quality standards were met. Her fluency in five languages certainly helped with ensuring these standards. Not satisfied with her achievements, Lee completed her MBA at the University of Evansville.
In 1983, Lee married William “Bill” Thomas, whom she met via the Old North United Methodist Church, becoming stepmother to his daughters, Sheila and Melanie. They spent their honeymoon in Salt Lake City, UT snow skiing. Bill and Lee traveled extensively as a couple, with many of their trips motivated by their mutual passion for street rods and other classic cars, and downhill skiing (sometimes both at once). After their retirement, the pair spent most Februaries in Utah and Colorado mastering the slopes and enjoying the outdoors. They built their dream house on Evansville’s north side in a cul-de-sac property, subdivision they developed when the old Evergreen Nursery went out of business, downsizing in 2007 to a ranch-style home just a few blocks away so they could both enjoy life with fewer stairs (the inevitable result of years on the slopes).
Lee inherited her passion for singing from her mother, Betty. She joined the family church’s choir in Batesburg, SC at age 12 and never gave up the avocation. She lent her skills as a dramatic soprano to Evansville church choirs beginning in 1976, most often at Old North UMC. She also sang with a number of small area chamber groups and as part of the chorus for productions by the Evansville Civic Theater. But Lee’s greatest musical joy was singing for more than 36 years with the Evansville Philharmonic Chorus, where she learned to sing in French, German, Latin, and many more languages. With her fellow choristers, she traveled to Vancouver, B.C., London, Ireland, Rome, Poland, and the Czech Republic; the highlight for Lee was singing with the group at Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Lee was diagnosed with non-small-cell lung cancer in 2014, and fought a courageous battle, undergoing more than seven years of continuous radiation and chemotherapy while still living an active life for much of that time.
In addition to her parents, Lee was preceded in death by her brother, Al Matthews, and husband, John Nester. She also laid to rest two fine Schnauzer companions, Kernel Sanders (d. 1998), and Truman (d. 2021).
She is survived by her husband, Bill Thomas of Evansville, and stepdaughters and their partners, Sheila Addison and Frank Robert (Seattle, WA) and Melanie and Doug Hazelwood (Bloomington, IN).
In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to the music department at Old North United Methodist Church, 4201 Stringtown Rd. Evansville, IN 47711.
Condolences may be made online at www.AlexanderNorthChapel.com
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