Frances Theo Allen Lee

Published 11:18 am Monday, February 24, 2020

Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...

Frances Theo Allen Lee

February 19, 2020

Frances Theo Allen Lee, age 98, passed away Wednesday, February 19, 2020, at her home in Bainbridge, Georgia.

Email newsletter signup

Mrs. Lee was born on April 15th, 1921 to Jesse and Suzie (nee Dollar) Allen, and raised on a farm about halfway between Bainbridge and Climax. Following graduation from Climax High School in 1939, she moved on to a nurse’s training program in Mobile. After graduating this she enlisted in the Army and was assigned to a mobile hospital unit in General George Patton’s army. She landed in France ten days after D-Day, and continued to serve in the European theater until the end of the war. Of note is that she was captured by the Germans and held as a prisoner of war for three weeks in April 1945. Following her discharge she lived in Trenton, NJ for two years until relocating to Amuay, Venezuela, where she was employed as an oil camp hospital nurse under contract to Esso (now Exxon). Here she met her husband Edward T. Lee, whom she married in November, 1949. They spent the next 25 years living in a host of countries, chiefly England, Germany and Italy. A son Winston was born in April, 1951; a second son Allen was born in October 1952.

She returned to Bainbridge in 1973 after the marriage ended. Here she enjoyed bragging that she was “enjoying her second childhood”. For a time she worked at the Bainbridge State Hospital, finally retiring in 1979. She continued to provide care and comfort to relatives and friends, especially her father, who died in 1983, and her mother who passed in 1989. She was especially known for a willingness to be immediately available whenever a need arose, and her nursing skills were always available when required.

Frances Allen is survived by her sons, Winston Edward Lee of San Francisco, California and Allen F. Lee of Etters, Pennsylvania; nieces and nephews, Viva Wilson of Richardson, Texas, Terry Baxter of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and Bruce Baxter of Norman, Oklahoma; sister-in-law, Clara Allen of Tampa, Florida; and nephew, George Allen of Tampa. She was preceded in death by her parents; brother, Robert Allen; sister, Mattie Lee Baxter and nephews, Francis Allen and Robert Allen, Jr.

A memorial service with military honors will be held at 2 pm., Sunday, March 8, 2020, in the Cadwell Chapel of Cox Funeral Home, with Elder Walter Todd officiating. Mrs. Lee will be buried in Oak City Cemetery.

On-line condolences may be sent at www.Coxfuneral.net.  Cox Funeral Home in charge of arrangements.