Wendell Orie Lee (1922 - 1999)

Born 22 Jun 1922 in Bellflower, Los Angeles, California

Ancestors

Husband of Marilyn Maxine (Miller) Boe — married 13 Sep 1942 (to 1956) in Bellflower, California

Descendants

Died 26 Feb 1999 at age 76 in Rogue River, Jackson, Oregon

Problems/Questions Profile manager: Scott Lee [send private message]

Biography

Wendell Orie Lee was born in Bellflower, Los Angeles County, California on June 22, 1922. His father was Orie Lee and his mother was Alberta Lewis.

Wendell had an older sister named Bonnie Rae, and a younger sister named Joy.

In 1930, Wendell (age 7) was living in Downey, California, with his parents. His father was a produce wholesaler, working his own account. As Wendell got older, after school was out, he helped his father in the business. Every day after school, he would sort the oranges his father brought back from the groves of southern California.

Oranges Groves of Southern California

Wendell's job was filling wooden crates with the oranges. Scraping the oranges off of the wooden floor of the flatbed would cause Wendell to always have splinters in his fingers. One could not wear gloves when sorting the oranges, he once shared with me.^[1]

This is what Wendell's father's truck looked like

Wendell grew up in the produce business with his father. As his father's business grew, watermelons became their specialty. Orie, along with the help of Wendell and Fred McClintock, Orie's son-in-law, built a good business of selling watermelons wholesale in the Los Angeles and San Diego markets.

Wendell became a full partner in his father's produce business. The business grew and new diesel tractors were required to haul the melons to market. Twenty-four ton of melons were delivered daily to the markets after transporting them from the watermelon fields.

Orie F. Lee's Business Card

Wendell also spent time in southern Oregon during his teens. His father had purchased a 165 acre ranch in the late 30's, near the Oregon Caves, on White School House Road, outside of Cave Junction, Oregon on U.S. Higway 46.^[2]

On the 13th of September in 1942, Wendell married Marilyn Miller, from Long Beach, California. They had met at Brother Andrews church in Bellflower, California.^[3]

Five days after his wedding, on September 18, 1942, Wendell enlisted in the Coast Guard, serving only 10 months. He was discharged on June 8, 1943, due to the fact that he lived on a farm in Oregon.

Wendell built a house for his family on his father's ranch in Oregon. He moved his young family back and forth between Cave Junction, Oregon and southern California every year to run the watermelon business. During the summer of 1956, Wendell and Marilyn divorced. At that time, they were living in Downey, California and they had three children.

1. Son (living as of 2022)
2. Donald Scott Lee
3. Daughter (living as of 2022)

In Our Sunday Best

From time to time, Wendell would visit his children. Wendell, kept busy, driving his watermelon truck in the summer season and running large open-air fruit stands, and Christmas tree lots in Los Angeles county, sometimes with his father.

Wendell, eventually remarried and had another son. In 1963, O.F. Lee and Sons watermelon business was dissolved, and Wendell took a job working for the Alpha Beta market chain driving one of their delivery trucks. In order to meet the cost of living, Wendell regularly attended swap meets, selling anything of value.

Eventually, Wendell ended up back in Cave Junction, Oregon, where he started a small store. He sold that store after a few years and moved nearby to the smalll town of Rogue River, Oregon. There on the banks of the scenic Rogue River Wendell built Lee's Olive House.

At Lee's Olive House

where he worked until his death.

Wendell had smoked filterless cigarettes most of his life and it came back to haunt him, as in his later years he suffered from severe COPD, which ultimately led to his death in Rogue River, Oregon, on February 26, 1999. Wendell's remains were buried at the Laurel Cemetery in Cave Junction, Oregon, next to both of his parents.

Sources

1. ↑ Personal knowledge of son, D. Scott Lee
2. ↑ 1940 U.S. Census for Wendell O Lee; "United States Census, 1940," database with images, FamilySearch (https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VRRR-RTG : 4 January 2021), Wendle O Lee in household of Orie F Lee, Althouse Election Precinct, Josephine, Oregon, United States; citing enumeration district (ED) 17-1, sheet 2B, line 44, family 34, Sixteenth Census of the United States, 1940, NARA digital publication T627. Records of the Bureau of the Census, 1790 - 2007, RG 29. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 2012, roll 3364. (accessed 8 Jan 2022)
3. ↑ Marriage Record for Wendell and Marilyn Lee; "California, County Marriages, 1850-1952," database with images, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8VT-NTL : 9 March 2021), Wendell Orie Lee and Marilyn Maxine Miller, 13 Sep 1942; citing Los Angeles, California, United States, county courthouses, California; FHL microfilm 2,114,963. (accessed 8 Jan 2022)

Acknowledgments

Bio written by D. Scott Lee, Wendell's son.