From Prissy Lee:

My Mother was born on ‘the farm’ next to Moniteau Creek in Cooper Co., about 10 miles north of California, Missouri. She went to Whitlinger School, a one-room school as a child, and often she and her sister Edna & Lela and brother Abe rode their horse Starchy, leaving him at Farmer Brown’s during the day. When Mom was 8, indoor plumbing and electricity were installed. Before that, food was kept cool in an underground cellar. My Grandad Len Moore raised cattle. My Grandma Laura Wilson Moore cooked three meals a day on a wood burning stove, was proud of her homemade lye soap and sold turkeys for extra money to have when the family went to town on Saturday. They moved into town so the kids could attend high school, and Grandad Moore became the postmaster.

Mom played the lead in her junior and senior plays, but had to take teacher training her senior year so she cold immediately teach in the one-room country schools. This was during the Depression and one year she worked for $25 a month. She went to college in the summers and after 5 years, she had 1/2 a degree which qualified her to teach in a regular classroom. She did get to go to the University of Missouri several semesters and eventually graduated from there. After 10 years of teaching, she married and had four daughters: Nancy, Ann, myself, and Carol--her proudest accomplishments.

We were brought up on the country sayings of her youth and the poetry of her school days. Please read Longfellow’s “A Psalm of Life” which was one of her favorites and says much about her. We lived in Columbia, Missouri until 1959 when we moved to Victoria, Texas. She resumed her 1st grade teaching and after almost 30 years in a classroom, retired in 1984. She loved her job, particularly teaching children to read.

Mom was always active in community, school and church and was an eager volunteer after retirement. She loved our country and taught me much about citizenship and responsibility. She was proud that all her daughters got college degrees, about Nancy’s career as a teacher, about Carol and my work as librarians and about Ann and my roles as mothers. She was devoted to her grandchildren Marc, John, & Jill Woodruff and Kate & Paul Makai. I know she will be there in spirit when Kate & I go to Marc’s wedding next month in College Station, Texas.

After many years of poor health, Moma died January 25th. Just by luck, Paul, Kate & I had spoken to her that day. We all gathered for a memorial service to her at the First Presbyterian Church in Victoria. Carol & I spoke and Kate sang “See, See, Oh Playmate” which Mother had taught her and Bach’s Cantata #104. Kate sang again at the funeral in California, Missouri before we buried Moma next to her sister Lela and near her parents and brother Abe. My se rest in peace. We’ll be missing her long after the cows come home.

Mother often recited the following poem when she left us:
Be good sweet maids, and let who will (and can) be clever,
Do noble deeds; don’t dream them all day long.
And make this world and the great forever,
One sweet song.

Thanks Moma for my life.
Love,
Prissy

Mrs. Vivian Irene Moore Lee was born in Cooper County north of California, Missouri on Sept. 27, 1913 to Len (Leonard) and Laura Alice Wilson Moore. She was raised on her family's cattle farm and attended one-room country schools where she later taught for five years after graduating from California's Aurora High School in 1932. Her siblings were Edna Moore Ford, Lela Moore Proctor and Abe Moore along with Mamie and Heston Moore who died as infants. Her father was the local postmaster. Mrs. Lee graduated from Missouri University and married on Jan. 29, 1944. She raised her children Nancy, Ann, Prissy and Carol Lee in Columbia, Missouri and Victoria where they moved in Summer 1959. The family home was at 209 S. Crescent Drive in Victoria. The family pets were Blackie the dog and Tiger, Pearl and Sweetheart the cats.

Mrs. Lee taught first grade at Victoria's O'Connor School for many years and retired in 1984 with almost 30 years of teaching. She believed in community service and was active in the First Presbyterian Church, Friends of the Library, League of Women Voters, fine arts organizations as well as a volunteer at the zoo, hospital, adult literacy and Christ Kitchen before her passing on January 25, 1997. She is buried in California, Missouri.

All four Lee girls graduated from Victoria High School and Texas colleges. Nancy Alice Lee, b. 5/12/45 in Jefferson City, MO, was active in the VHS band, graduated from Stephen F. Austin State Univ. & Sam Houston State Univ., and taught elementary school in Kerrville. Ann Lee Woodruff, b. 6/26/48 in Columbia, MO, was on the VHS tennis team, graduated from Southwest Texas State Univ., and married Kyle Woodruff (Joseph Kyle Woodruff, b. 5/12/49 to Joseph [Joe] M. and Madeline Kyle Woodruff) of Nursery on Dec. 18, 1971 in Victoria. They raised Marc Lee Woodruff, b. 10/5/74, John Paul Woodruff, b. 9/23/77 and Jill Ann Woodruff, b. 4/21/82 in Brenham and Dallas. Prissy (Priscilla) Lee, b. 11/6/49 in Columbia, MO, was in the Victoriadores, graduated from Univ. of Houston & Texas and W.V. State, was a librarian, and married Alex Makai (Alexander John Makai, b. 9/13/51 to John and Elizabeth Makai) of Sydney, Australia on July 29, 1984 in Charleston, WV. They raised Kate Ellen Makai, b. 8/10/85 and Paul Andrew Makai, b. 5/1/87 in Brookfield, Connecticut and Basiglio, Milan, Italy. Carol Elizabeth Lee, b. 8/7/51 in Columbia, MO, graduated from Univ. of Houston & North Texas, was a community volunteer and is a librarian in Houston.

Grandma didn't know what to name Mom, so Johnny Doc Martin, who worked on the farm suggested Vivian after a young niece of his named Vivian Russell who had died on April 13, 1913. Her gravestone is by the fence at the SE corner of Mt.Pleasant Cemetery. I don't think Mother ever knew where Grandma got Irene, but Mother never liked it. Mainly for this reason, we put only "I." on her gravestone. We considered leaving it off all together, but she always signed her name "Mrs. Vivian I. Lee".