Elizabeth Lee Henry, a fiercely devoted mother and grandmother, an insatiable reader, and an avid gardener, died on Friday, Aug. 28, at University of Kansas Health System Olathe Hospital, surrounded by her sisters and her daughter, fighting to the end. She was 80.
Lee was dedicated to her 2000 Honda Accord (manual transmission, 287,000 miles), her house, and her yard, each kept to exacting standards.
She mailed cards for every occasion to friends, family, and acquaintances, like clockwork. And Lee never met a stranger.
She was born Elizabeth Lee Reese on March 20, 1946, in Lawrence, Kansas, to Jesse Allen and Monte Elizabeth (Robbins) Reese. Although the nursery rhyme calls Wednesday’s child a “child of woe,” Lee didn’t dwell on the sad moments of her life. She approached challenges with resilience and compassion, without complaint.
Her parents met at the University of Kansas, where her father served as dean of the School of Pharmacy from 1940 to1962.
Lee was the eldest of the Reese girls, with two sisters, Virginia Gay and Monte Sue. She attended Lawrence public schools, including Lawrence High School, where she was active in choir, debate, and theater. According to her sisters, she also had a steady stream of “beaus,” with more than one date on a single day.
At KU, Lee joined the Chi Omega sorority, sang in musical theater ensembles, and double majored in English and French. She worked campus jobs, such as catering at the Kansas Union and at Weaver’s Department Store’s satellite location. A summer session at the Sorbonne in Paris, France, was a highlight of her college experience and helped shape her future.
Lee said that during her senior year, the FBI, CIA, and Trans World Airlines all recruited on the KU campus, and she was accepted to each. Lee chose TWA.
A strikingly beautiful stewardess in the swinging 1960s, Lee traveled widely from her new home in New York City on international flights—during an era of comfortable seats, cocktails, and multi-course meals—until she became pregnant with her first daughter, Brooke.
Lee married three times, divorced twice, and was widowed once.
Robert F. Spencer III also had ties to the airline industry. They had two children, Brooke in 1970 and Laura in 1972, and settled in Long Beach, New York. After their divorce, Lee returned to the Midwest and reunited with a KU boyfriend, John R. Newlin, an advertising executive and interior designer who raised her daughters as his own. They lived in Prairie Village, Kansas, and were married for nearly two decades before divorcing in the 1990s, when both girls were at KU.
Lee met her last husband, Mark A. Henry, through Guy Simpson, a friend from her divorce support group—which led to a move to Olathe, Kansas; immersion in the Kansas City barbecue scene; trips to Buttonwood Bay, Florida; contra dancing; and more. Mark, who worked in construction, died in a tragic accident in 2002.
As a parent, Lee led Brownie and Girl Scout troops, chaperoned field trips, and visited classes to teach songs in French. On family road trips to East Texas, she’d encourage stops at libraries along the way. And her love of classic movies led to many outings to the Fine Arts Theatre.
When her daughters were little, Lee worked part-time as a waitress, carrying home slices of pie or pieces of sopapilla at the end of a shift. She returned full-time at Commodity News/Knight Ridder and, later, at Merck/Schering-Plough/Intervet, serving in administrative, customer support, and supervisory roles.
Lee was thrilled to become a grandmother and visited her daughter Brooke and the extended family in San Pedro, California. The four grandkids, Sarah, Jeremy, Max, and Diego, were invited to Kansas in the summer to swim at the Olathe pools, visit Deanna Rose Children’s Farmstead, and watch fireflies.
In Kansas City, she rarely missed piano recitals or theater performances for her grandson, Will, from elementary school through college, from backyard performances in the neighborhood to, more recently, drives to Columbia, Missouri, and back again in a day to catch a musical or a play.
Throughout her life, Lee supported the arts, including regular visits to the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, and environmental causes—from renewable energy and recycling to wildlife crossings.
Lee continued to enjoy international travel, including a cruise to Tahiti; a holiday in France with her sister, Sue; a trip to Scotland with her daughter, Laura, to work at a bookstore called The Open Book; and visits to Canada to travel with her dear friend Barb. In April, she returned to New York City after decades away for a jam-packed Music Theater Heritage trip.
In recent years, she’d led a quieter life, as a meticulous gardener—or, as she described it, “playing in the dirt”—and always reading, making weekly trips to the Olathe Indian Creek Library to pick up stacks of holds, mostly cozy mysteries, historical fiction, and romance.
Lee never fully retired and continued to wake up at “oh dark hundred” to serve as an election worker for the Johnson County Election Office. Twice a week, she drove her immaculately maintained Honda to Red Oak Landscaping in Bucyrus, Kansas, to answer phone calls and organize bills—until her cancer diagnosis.
In June, Lee was diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and faced it with her usual optimism, trust in doctors, and trust in science.
Lee began chemo and immunotherapy in July, but her health rapidly deteriorated. She was in and out of hospitals starting in June, with three admissions in August alone. Lee died on Aug. 28 at the University of Kansas Health System Olathe Hospital.
A special thank you to the staff at the University of Kansas Cancer Center in Overland Park, Kansas, for their kindness, patience, and for returning many phone calls. And thanks also to the nurses, doctors, and staff in Olathe for their kind and compassionate care, especially during Lee’s final hours.
She was predeceased by her parents, Jesse Allen Reese and Monte Elizabeth Flannery, and her stepfather, Lawrence S. Flannery Sr.; her husband, Mark A. Henry; her granddaughter, Sarah Monte Banuelos, in 2015; and her daughter, Elizabeth Brooke Banuelos, in 2023.
Lee leaves behind her sister, Sue Hopkins, and her partner, John Waisner; her sister, Gay Schneider, and brother-in-law, David Schneider; her stepbrother, Joseph Flannery, and sister-in-law, Paula Flannery, of Lawrence, Kansas; and her stepbrother, Father Robert Flannery, of Belleville, Illinois.
She will also be missed every day by her daughter, Laura Spencer-Morris, son-in-law, Frank Morris, and grandson, Will Morris of Kansas City, Missouri; grandson, Walter Morris of Troy, New York; son-in-law, Hector Banuelos, and grandchildren, Jeremy, Max, and Diego Banuelos of San Pedro, California; as well as by nieces, nephews, great-nieces, and a great-nephew.
And too many friends and neighbors to count.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to the J. Allen Reese Pharmacy Scholarship at KU Endowment (https://kuendowment.org/JAllenReeseScholarship), or make a gift to your favorite public (library, radio, or television) organization.
Please raise a glass — dark beer is preferred — to Lee.
Rosary will be at 10:00 am, with the visitation following; Memorial Service will be at 11:00 am; Inurnment at 11:45 am and lunch at 12:00 pm on Friday, September 11, 2026 at Queen of the Holy Rosary - Wea, 22779 Metcalf Road, Bucyrus, KS 66013.
