Services for Jane Lee, 103, of Portales, will be arranged at a later time.
Ruth Jane Lee was born May 27, 1915 in Fayetteville, AR to the home of Pearl (Cox) and Walter Allen Van Cleave and died Jan. 10, 2019 in Portales, NM. During World War II, Jane was a “Rosie the Riveter” to help with the war effort, working in the airplane factories in California. Ms Lee held two Master’s Degrees in the area of education, and was a retired public school teacher in the Portales Public Schools.
Through the years she had taught several different grade levels, but mostly the third grade at Lyndsey Elementary School. She retired after more than 40 years of dedicated teaching. She loved to travel, and had been to most parts of the world. She loved seeing new places, and enjoyed each new destination, but her favorite was probably Hawaii. Ms Lee was a member of the First Baptist Church.
She is survived by her son and daughter-in-law, Gary and Sandra Lee of Alto, NM; one granddaughter, Kelly (Patrick) Dowlin of Longmont, CO; and four great-grandchildren, Rebekah, Jacob, Joshua and Rachel Dowlin. She was preceded in death by three brothers, Gene, Sam and John Van Cleave and a grandson, Jeffery Robert Lee.
