Phoebe Janet Hardwick Lee

Phoebe Janet Hardwick Lee was born January 17, 1917 to Alma Beaune and William George Hardwick. She was the sixth of nine children and Lord, how she loved growing up with her Mama, Papa, brothers and sisters on a dairy farm in Pell City, Alabama!

After graduating from Alabama College, she married James Edward Lee of Poplarville, Mississippi. James always called her Janet. In Alabama, Janet taught Home Economics and opened a day care center in her home for preschoolers including her own three children in the late 1940s.

In the early 1950s in Arlington, Virginia, Janet resumed her teaching at Beverly Hills Preschool. At home she was known for her good southern cooking, her fine candy making and her sewing of beautiful clothes. Years later she would make wedding dresses for her daughter and two daughters-in-law. For twelve years, Janet taught Home Economics to junior and senior high school students in Arlington County Public Schools. At Washington and Lee High School, she originated a preschool laboratory so her twelfth grade students could learn early child development.

At Fair Park Baptist Church in Alexandria, Janet directed wonder-filled Christmas pageants and created a group for seniors called "Aged to Perfection." Later at Fairlington United Methodist Church, she helped organize a second "Aged to Perfection" group and donated a van so the seniors could enjoy many a marvelous outing. "ATP" lives on at Fairlington UMC.

Janet was a delightful storyteller and creator of magical arts and crafts projects in her work and play with children of all ages. Known as "Mama Lee," she was loved by five grandchildren and six great grandchildren.

Twelve years after the death of her husband, Janet moved to Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads, a fine retirement home that offers community, diversity and security. For twenty years she truly enjoyed the people who live and work there. In her own words, Goodwin House offered a "blessed connectedness in a place just meant for people like me. I am so very grateful."

Phoebe, Janet, "Lady Lee," "Mama Lee" left a legacy of love, laughter and gratitude to her beloved family, friends, nurses, nursing assistants and the staff at Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads. She will be lovingly remembered by her son Jim Lee and his wife Sara, her daughter Alma Lee Carpenter and her former husband, Bob Carpenter, her friends Susan and Dick Carpenter, her daughter-in-law Sharon Lee Robinson and her husband Sandy, her grandchildren Christine Carpenter and her husband David Hatch, Catherine Carpenter Cox and her husband Brad, Laura Lee Andre and her husband Patrick, Jeff Lee, Tracy Lee Shaffer and her husband Michael, and her great grandchildren Luke, Ainsley and Benjamin Andre, and Molly, Sarah and Freddie Hatch. Her husband, James Edward Lee, died in 1980 and their younger son, Eddie Lee, died in 1994.

Several years ago when Janet Lee awakened in a hospital room after a seizure, she declared, "This isn't Heaven, is it!" On January 2nd, 2013, two weeks before her 96th birthday, Phoebe Janet Lee found Heaven at last. A visitation will be held on Monday, January 7, 2013 from 4-8 PM at Everly Community Funeral Care, 6161 Leesburg Pike, Falls Church, Virginia. Burial will take place in Mississippi. A memorial service will be held at Goodwin House Bailey's Crossroads at a later date. In lieu of flowers memorial donations may be made to a charity of one's choice