Randolph Wilbur Lee – Captain, United States Army Air Corps

From a contemporary press report:

Randolph Wilbur Lee, 74, a former executive in the Department of Health, Education and Welfare, died of complications resulting from lung cancer May 26, 1998at Sibley Memorial Hospital, Washington, D.C.

Mr. Lee served 10 years at HEW before retiring in 1979. His positions there included budget director, director of state grants and administration and director of the division of special claims. After his federal retirement he sold real estate and did management consulting.

A resident of Falls Church, he was born in Rapid City, South Dakota, and he attended South Dakota School of Mines and Technology there.

During World War II, he was an Army Air Forces fighter aircraft pilot in Europe, and he participated in 23 combat missions before being shot down in January 1945. He was a prisoner of war in Germany until liberated by advancing Soviet forces in May of that year.

After the war, Mr. Lee graduated from the University of Colorado and in 1949 moved to the Washington area as a civilian program analyst at Air Force headquarters. He received a master’s degree in public administration at George Washington University.

In 1960, Mr. Lee transferred to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration as a program management specialist. He attended the graduate school of business at the University of Chicago and in 1969 joined HEW.

In recent years, Mr. Lee spent time at a second home on the Delaware coast and in Mesa, Arizona. He had traveled extensively in Europe and North America.

Survivors include his wife of 48 years, Betty Johnson Lee of Falls Church; two children, Janice Lee of Falls Church and Bryan Lee of Issaquah, Wash.; three brothers; and two grandchildren.


LEE, RANDOLPH W., Age 74

On Tuesday, May 26, 1998, of Falls Church, Va., beloved husband of 48 years to Betty F. Lee; loving father of Bryan E. Lee of Issaquah, WA and Janice E. Lee of Falls Church, VA; grandfather of William and Jacob Lee. Also surviving are his brothers Ardeth, Eugene and Fred Lee. Funeral services will be held at Fort Myer Old Post Chapel, Fort Myer, VA, on Monday, June 8, 1998, at 9 a.m. Interment with full military honors Arlington National Cemetery. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made in his memory to: The American Cancer Society, 124 Park St., SE, Vienna, VA 22183, or to: The National Cancer Institute, 31 Center Dr., Bethesda, MD 20892, or to: Sibley Memorial Hospital, 5255 Loughboro Rd., NW, Washington, DC. Arrangements by Murphy-Falls Church Funeral Home.

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