Karey Lynn Lee

The greatest Astros fan to ever live… until they didn’t secure Bregman! To write the obituary for your own father is a daunting task. I need everyone to know and understand the magnificent person Daron, Rusty, Randy and I called “Daddy”. So I will start with the regular. Karey Lynn Lee was born January 20, 1943, to parents Guy and Frona Davis Lee. He was the only son and the eldest child with two younger sisters, Judy and Jane. He was a product of Lufkin High School where he finished in 1961. He married our mother, Donna Jo Muckelroy Lee on June 7, 1963, after meeting her at the little cafe in Etoile, TX where his crew with the Texas Highway Department would stop in for lunch. He was working on the Angelina River Bridge and the eventual Lake Sam Rayburn Reservoir that was one of his crowning achievements. By trade our dad was a registered public surveyor and worked many years in the trade with Abbott Hargraves, Temple Industries/Inland, and Everett Griffith and Associates. The remarkable amount of knowledge contained in his head regarding anything and everything “land” in East Texas cannot ever be measured nor matched. If you needed information on surveys, names, plaintiffs or defendants, I assure you he could provide you with that information. As his health declined, he would still ask to ride here or there and would often tell tales about his various encounters with people and places and considered it a matter of pride. Many things are lost sometimes, never to be regained. If you were a basketball fan, I am 100% certain you have encountered him in a gym in East Texas. His memory was like a magnetic strip and he could recall with vivid detail every nuance of a game and in his replay make you feel like you had actually watched it. He was a HUGE fan of the 1974 Huntington Red Devil state champions and never missed a Woden game for any age if it could be helped. He also found enormous pride in watching the Chireno Lady Owls where Rusty’s two girls Lauren and Lainey played their high school careers. If someone said there’s a basketball game, you’d find our daddy in the back of the truck/car camera bag in hand. Speaking of that camera bag, it was probably his greatest love to photograph. Basketball was his love, but wildlife, birds, flowers, and grandkids became his obsession. Plus he would take pictures of your kids too and email them to you! We will all miss that the most! Family was vastly important to our daddy. He was a hard working man; working many hours in the heat and cold. Many worked with him or for him and I have never heard tell of anyone who thought him unjust or unfair. With Daddy, you pretty much knew where you stood and he liked it that way.

He was Daddy to Daron Lee, who married Lisa Ann Hargraves from Melrose, TX, and had Adam, Natalie and Jacob. His greatest sorrow came with the loss of Adam on January 1, 2008. He never really recovered from that. Natalie married Chris Evans from Pineland and they have two of his great grands, Troy and Josie. Jacob married Samantha Lowery and together have Case and Cami, who is our newest addition. He was Daddy to Karianna Lee Grant who married David Grant from Mesquite, TX. They had Kaci and Marshall Lee Nugent Grant, but Big Pop fondly named him Pete and I would say that name stuck. Kaci is married to Brannon Jones and they have three children Ethan, Quinn and Lailah. Marshall or Pete as Daddy called him, has a daughter-Brixxon.

He was Daddy to Randy Lee who graduated from the US Military Academy at West Point and yes, that was another thing he was immensely proud of as well. Randy married Shannon Silkey from Syracuse, New York and together they have Hannah and Jackson.

He was Daddy to Rusty Lee, who married Kim Lowery from Etoile, TX. They have Lauren who is married to Jason Menefee and together they are the parents of Molly and Mae. Rusty and Kim also have Lainey Lee and Logan Lee. So you see 4 children, 10 grandchildren and 10 great grandchildren was his crowning glory. He was a follower of our Lord Jesus Christ and still a member of Denman Avenue Baptist Church in Lufkin, TX.

Strength, Integrity and Passion are the final thoughts I will share with you about the man we call Daddy. He fought the most valiant fight against this horrible disease and came out ahead 4 times, but the 5th time proved too much. The strength he displayed from beginning to end is and was a marvel to behold. Integrity is a mainstay in his world. His word was his bond and he would move Heaven and Earth to do it if he told you he would. You could take that to the bank! Finally, passion is a wonderful attribute. He was passionate about it if it was important to him or if it was important to you. It never mattered if he thought it meant something to someone, he was in it to win it. Daddy was not a fan of receiving praise and for that reason alone, he chose to have no visitation and no service. Our family will lay him to rest in a way that befits a life well lived. We thank each and every single person who has prayed for him along this journey and who has supported our family. He left us January 1, 2025, but I don’t think he will ever really be gone from us….