“I came to grips with the fact that she was much more a ‘people person’ than I was. “We had a wonderful life and I enjoyed a great deal of it. “Since my wife’s death, I’ve had to re-invent my life, and so I have a large support system of friends,” Lee said. Richard and Mary had been married for 58 years at the time of her passing. “You either stay melancholy or you move on, so he’s made new friends.” “As people pass, you don’t have any choice,” Monica said. Over the years, he’s lost a lot of friends, Monica said, but then he’s made new ones. “Loneliness can be a big problem for older people, but it’s a problem I don’t have because I’ve formulated my own network.” They are a big part of my support system,” Lee said. “Our three children had grown and flown, but fortunately, they all live within 15 miles. I couldn’t make the rehearsals because of Mary’s illness. “That put a stop to theater, at least for the past several years. “Since she passed away, life has changed a lot,” Lee said. When Lee’s wife, Mary, became ill, and passed six years ago, the world got dark for awhile. I’ve played just about everything under the sun, but with an emphasis on comedy.” “I like comedy and I have a flair for comedy,” Lee said. “We do some pretty good plays and have done over 45 plays. “We don’t get paid, but, boy, do we have fun,” Lee said. Instead, he poured his creative spirit into an all-volunteer theater group. “I’ve been interested in theater all my life and wanted to be a part of the theater, but I didn’t want to starve in New York while waiting on tables and waiting for that big part to come,” Lee said. Lee has owned more than 40 vintage automobiles – one at a time, he adds – and has been in more than 40 plays, so far. “So that was my second track of employment.”Ī member of the Classic Car Club of America, he has also been a judge at several car shows. “They were modest sales, but they helped pay the rent,” Lee said. Most were sold to school directors and high -school counselors. “It was not your bestseller type of book. “Between us, we wrote 21 books over 35 years: all career and copy books for high schools,” Lee said. That was one career, Lee said, and the other was a combination career with his wife, Mary Price Lee. Of his business associate, Lee said: “He’s a youngster. In 1989, at the age of 30, Lee left advertising, saying it was a young people’s game.īut when asked for help by a friend, Lee did some freelance advertising, turning it into a career he stayed with for the next 30 years. “Since I decided I didn’t want to be a teacher, I wound up in advertising and worked for seven different ad agencies in and around Philadelphia,” Lee said. Lee wrote for the college’s literary magazine, becoming the editor in his senior year. The enjoyment he found in that endeavor pointed the way to an acting avocation. “A fellow student and I wrote a college musical comedy called ‘The Backdrop Club.’ A frat brother and I did the script.” “I was pretty good in school, but too busy with extracurricular activities to be an academian,” Lee said. “It was very transformative for a 19-year-old kid,” Lee said of his military time.Ī 1951 graduate of the College of William and Mary with a degree in English, Lee said he wasn’t looking forward to a career in teaching, and felt like he had no prospects. He became a second lieutenant, serving in Tokyo after the war, in charge of repairing utilities. In 1945, Lee was drafted five days before the end of World War II. Lee retired just last year from a career in advertising and promotional writing, having started in the 1950s at ad agencies in and around Philadelphia.Ī member of Toastmasters International, Lee has also been the subject of a number of podcasts. No stranger to writing, Lee and his late wife had written more than 20 non-fiction reference books over the years, many of them for high school students, such as “Careers for Car Buffs and Other Free-wheeling Types.” Recently, Lee finished writing his memoirs. It’s just north of the city, Lee said, adding that he’s lived in the same house since 1960. Born in the Germantown section of Philadelphia, he lives in Flourtown, Montgomery County.
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