Frank Roy Lee

1920 2020

Born Frank Roy Le Bourveau in Marysville, California and raised in Dunsmuir. Frank was a third generation Californian.

In 1939 Frank left the University of AZ, Tucson to attend Polytechnic College of Engineering in CA. After the Pearl Harbor attack of December 1941, Frank enlisted as a Private in the Army Air Corps at $22 per month. About 22 years later he retired from the United States Air Force with the rank of Colonel and an aeronautical rating of Command Pilot. He also held a Commercial Pilot License in civil aviation.

A substantial portion of his aviation duties were as a test pilot or acceptance pilot. In that role he flew many of the 70 some different models or types of aircraft to determine if they behaved as they should. He also flew 32 combat missions in B-29 aircraft in the Pacific area and 51 missions into Berlin during the airlift to supply German citizens blocked by the Russian forces.

He was a graduate of the U.S. Army Command and General Staff College, the U.S Air Force Air Command and Staff College and the USAF Institute of Technology Staff Civil Engineer Program. He commanded the Advanced Aircraft Maintenance Group for Air Training Command with a student enrollment of approximately 500 supported by a staff of about 100 teachers and administrators.

He was an early participant in nuclear testing programs. He suffered an accident while retrieving a critical instrument and sustained the maximum dose of radiation barring him from any future activities where radiation exposure might occur. He entered another technical field in Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles and his final USAF assignment was evaluating units armed with ICBM’s.

Frank said he really learned to fly when assigned as one of the six pilots flight testing the Fighters, Bombers and Transports that the Allied Forces Lend-Lease Program gave Soviet Russia in World War II. At the time of his death, he was the last survivor of the six pilots.

After military retirement he entered Civil Service for a position with NASA. While waiting for some vital hardware to arrive he took temporary employment with Sears Roebuck. Upon arrival of hardware, he decided to remain with Sears and make a second career. He worked the next 19 years as a manager of several departments or divisions of retail stores and retired in 1984.

It was during this time that Frank went to court to legally change his name from Le Bourveau to Lee because as Frank said, “no one could spell it or pronounce it”.

Frank was a tennis player well into his eighties, a voracious reader and a lover of music, especially Jazz Musicians of the 20’s, 30’s and 40’s.

Preceding him in death were his first wife, Laura, their son Frank Jr., and second wife, Darlene.

Frank is survived by his wife, Fran Lee; grandson, Matt Le Bourveau; granddaughter, Kerrie Le Bourveau-Smith and great-granddaughter, Vivienne Le Bourveau. He is also survived by 2 step-sons, 5 step-daughters as well as numerous step-grandchildren and great-grand children.