Lee Garfield

Born to Dr. Edmond J. and Louise Augusta Farris in Philadelphia, Penna. December 16, 1938, Lee was the eldest of their three children. Her first years were spent on the Effingham Morris Biological Farm of the Wistar Institute (University of Pennsylvania) with animal pals – Cliff and Major, pony and dog, respectively. Daughter of a medical researcher (see the Farris Institute of Parenthood) she did laboratory work and made two further friends, lab rats King and Queenie.

Early on and throughout her life, Lee painted, drew and photographed, sharing a love of and making of art with her mother. Participating in school shows and magazine contests, she gleaned accolades and prizes for her efforts. Lee’s love of horses led her to be an avid equestrian during her junior high school years – spending summers at riding camps and riding year-round on her Aunt Neva’s farm where her horse was stabled.

In her teen years she attended Lower Merion High School (Mainline Philadelphia). She earned her B.A. from the University of South Carolina, majoring in English and History. Other parts of her academic career were spent at Pierce Business School (shorthand, typing), Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts (drawing and painting), Harcum Junior College (Library Science and Education) and Mary Washington University.

Soon after college, Lee moved to the Rehearsal Club in New York and worked on acting and dancing skills. As part of the Beat Generation in Greenwich Village, she moved in a circle of friends that included Jack Kerouac, Moondog, Alan Ginsburg and Wavy Gravy – frequenting spots like the Minetta Bar.

She returned to Philadelphia and was hired as Executive Secretary for WFIL TV (American Bandstand, Dick Clark). Following that, her life-long love of books led her to work at both the Furness and Van Pelt Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania. She supported libraries ever since through reading-for-children, reference and circulation, and donating time. Lee had access to two to six library cards for years and regularly had over 50 books on loan that she assiduously tracked to avoid fines.

Married to Richard F. Garfield in 1961, Lee had four children; Richard Channing, Elizabeth Lartigue, Susan – all born in Philadelphia: and Justin Owen – born in Kathmandu, Nepal.

In Nepal (1970 – 1974), Lee did volunteer work for the Kalimati Clinic Dispensary and the Lincoln (American) School library. She also found time to trek in the mountain foothills – to Bairab Kund Lekh, Phaphlu, Pokhara, and in the Terai – to Tiger Tops.

Returning to the United States, Lee and her family moved from the East to the West Coast, settling in Eugene for four years where she taught at Morning Sun Nursery School. In 1978 her family moved to Portland, Oregon. For the next 40 years, Lee filled her brick home in Irvington with family, a constant flow of friends and food. During this time, she also worked variously for Meier & Frank (housewares), Portland Parks (gardener for Ladd’s Addition and The International Rose Test Garden) and Multnomah County Library (Assistant Librarian) - often all at the same time.

A Master Gardener for forty years, her garden was a source of joy to her and others with its extraordinary range of “zonal denial” plantings along with indigenous plants, a one hundred year old pear tree, sixty feet of Caroline Testout roses and no pesti- or herbi-cides.

Surviving her are her sister, Suzanne Moore, her brother, Edmond Farris, her husband, four children, their spouses / significant others and eight grandchildren aged two to twenty-two.

Dr. Edmond J. and Louise Augusta Farris welcomed their first child, Louise Augusta, to their Philadelphia, Pennsylvania home on December 16, 1938. The arrivals of Edmond and Suzanne later rounded out the family.

For about the first decade of Lee’s life she lived on the Effingham Morris Biological Farm of the Wistar Institute where her father worked as a medical researcher. Cliff, the pony and Major, the dog were her companions. When she was old enough to help her father, lab rats King and Queenie also became her friends.

When most of the town was sold to build Leavitt-town, the family moved to Balacynwid on Mainline, the commuter rail line. It took less than 10 minutes to walk from their home to the station. 1956 brought the building of a shopping center nearby, causing the family to move yet again.

Lee didn’t spend a lot of time talking about her childhood, but we do know that she loved horses and, in Junior High, she would go to horse camp in the summer and also competed in lots of equestrian events – with the winning ribbons to show for it. When she was 15, Lee had to write about her favorite personality and she chose Cliff, her pony, which earned her a B. Through the years she wrote several papers about horses, complete with wonderful hand-drawn illustrations.

High School found her spending most of the summers with her grandma in South Carolina and she had many good friends down there. Visiting her other grandma in Buffalo, New York wasn’t nearly as relaxing. She was a terrifying woman with a dreaded “naughty hand” – you didn’t want to see that coming after you!

Lee had quite the sense of humor and, at one point, wrote the Dictionary of Charlestonese, translating what folks in Charleston would say versus how the rest of us would say it. For example, “Tin is fo more than sex”…. Of course that means “Ten is four more than six”.

Lee’s college years were spent at the University of South Carolina in Columbia where she majored in English and History. She expanded her learning through the years at Pierce Business School for shorthand and typing, Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts where she studied drawing and painting, Harcum Junior College for Library Science and Education and Mary Washington University.

Not long after graduation, Lee moved to the Rehearsal Club in New York to work on her acting and dancing skills. She was part of the Beat Generation in Greenwich Village where her circle of friends included Jack Kerouac, Moondog, Alan Ginsburg and Wavy Gravy, frequenting spots like the Minetta Bar.

After returning to Philadelphia, Lee was hired as Executive Secretary for WFIL TV, home of American Bandstand with Dick Clark. During that time she was helping out a friend and was hanging art in a coffee shop. 18-year-old Richard Garfield, a student at the University of Pennsylvania, walked in, saw this beautiful older woman (Lee was 22) up on a ladder, and he was smitten. He was attracted to her broad smile and intellectual curiosity and found her totally fascinating. They married on April 29, 1961.

Lee’s love of books led to her next position which included helping to move the libraries at the University of Pennsylvania. The arrival of her children – Richard in 1963, Elizabeth in 1966, Susan in 1968 and Justin in 1972 – caused her to slow down a bit, but she continued to support libraries the rest of her life. She never had less than two library cards and often had as many as six. She would keep careful track of the 50 plus books she would have checked out so that she didn’t have to pay fines. Even in her last days, she was concerned about her books getting returned, which Susan assured her were done.

Summer of 1969 found the family moving to East Pakistan where Richard was working with an architect on a large project. They lived in Daska, a city 60 miles inland that got 120” of rain a year. During monsoon season, 50% of the city is under water. After 10 months, war broke out. Just 300 yards from their house was East Pakistan Rifles compound. While confined nightly to their home by a curfew, the family would listen to BBC or Canadian Broadcast to try to find out what was going on. Almost every night they would hear trucks leave the compound, returning later. Shortly after their return, they would hear gunshots. For three months the family couldn’t be contacted. Finally, they were evacuated – with only five minutes notice and an allowance of one suitcase each. Susan became potty trained during the evacuation because her diapers were hanging on the line. A neighbor shipped some of the things they left behind to Belfast, Ireland where it stayed for a number of years. They were flown to Karachi but, since the airplane wasn’t allowed to fly over India, they took a 6,000-mile trip around India’s border, arriving at 2:00AM. The next day they were able to contact Swiss Airlines and flew to Bombay, India as refugees. One afternoon, during rush hour, the family was walking back to the YMCA where they were staying when they heard an explosion. They all dropped to the ground – only to discover it was just a bus backfiring.

The next part of their adventure was a boat trip to Goa – a Portuguese holding in India. They sat on coils of rope and slept on the deck. Goa was the starting point for a three-month tour of India. Originally, Richard wanted to go by motorcycle. They tried one out with Richard driving, Elizabeth sitting in front of him and Lee and Richard and Susan in the side car with bags fastened everywhere. It didn’t work very well for them so they decided to take the train. While crossing the Deccan Plateau the train stopped….for 20 hours. They had to drink water from the boiler of the train which was probably the source of the hepatitis they all acquired.

While waiting at the airport in Bangalore, India to catch a plane to Richard’s new job in New Delhi, a storm came up so severe that it broke out windows in the airport. After being delayed a day, they finally were on their way – when the plane was struck by lightning, knocking out the piolet. Lee had always been afraid of flying and that didn’t help one bit!

They finally settled in Nepal in 1970 where, in addition to raising her three children and, in 1972, adding Justin to the family, Lee did volunteer work for the Kalimati Clinic Dispensary and the Lincoln School library, an American school. She learned to play Mahjong (Australian rules) which provided some good social time. Trekking the foothills at 9,000 to 12,000 foot elevations was something else she enjoyed.

1974 found Richard’s job ending so they decided to travel through India, Iran and Greece, including a two-week sail in the Aegean Sea, rowing ashore at night for supper. Every where they went, Lee was mistaken for a native. It was only in the last year that she discovered through DNA testing that she was 50% Lebanese and Syrian, which really pleased her.

They finally returned to the U.S., staying in Boston with Richard’s family for an academic year. There wasn’t any architect work there for Richard and the family didn’t want to go back overseas so they loaded all their worldly goods and took a 30 day drive across the country to Eugene, Oregon. They couldn’t get insurance on their things so Lee and Richard slept on a mattress on top of the boxes in the truck with one child in the truck cab and the others in the car. After settling in Eugene, Lee taught at Morning Sun Nursery School until the family moved to Portland, Oregon in 1978. For the next 40 years, Lee filled their brick home in Irvington family, friends and food. As a Master Gardener, she loved working in their yard, filling it with “zonal denial” plantings along with indigenous plants, a 100-year-old pear tree and 60 feet of Caroline Testout roses. She also worked for Meier & Frank in housewares, as a gardener for Ladd’s Addition and The International Rose Test Garden through the Portland Parks and as an Assistant Librarian for the Multnomah County Library, often all at the same time.

On top of everything else she did, Lee was an accomplished artist, working in oil and acrylic and ink sketches. Every time they moved, she would pull out her easel and start to paint. Growing up she participated in school shows and magazine contests, collecting accolades and prizes for her efforts. Lee added water color painting to her repertoire when she and Susan took lessons together several years ago. Photography was another way she showed her artistic side. Her camera always by her side, Lee especially enjoyed taking pictures of people, and she kept all of her photos well organized. Her sharp eyes also served her well mushroom hunting along the West Coast. Perhaps you will have better luck than I did getting the secret locations out of Richard!

As if all of this wasn’t enough, Lee was also extremely tech savvy, often times ahead of the kids! In the late ‘80’s to mid ‘90’s she belonged to an Amiga Computer group and attended the annual meetings in Sacramento for many years. One year she was riding there with a friend in his Pontiac GTO when they got pulled over. After being pulled over, the police officer told him “You’ll have to stay in town overnight unless you let the lady drive.” She was always connected on Facebook, keeping up with what everyone was doing.

Lee also loved playing games and she would usually win! She especially enjoyed Six Man Zonk – a dice game – and Mahjong. She wasn’t as fond of board games, but would play them even if she was starting to fall asleep. Richard said she had the best winning percentage of a sleeping person he’d ever seen.

But more than anything, Lee loved being Grandma, Baba Lee and Nana to Anika, Terry, Tessa, Schuyler, William, Martin, James and Antoine.

Lee couldn’t have been prouder of her children, their spouses and significant others and her grandchildren. She took several trips to visit them and their families and even went to Belgium to meet the people who published Richard’s games.

Lee’s life was full of adventures of many kinds, including dealing with cancer. First diagnosed in 2012, she was nominally in remission until it came back with a vengeance in 2017. Her artistic eyes also had to deal with glaucoma, cataracts and retinal peritonitis. But she soldiered on, even driving for a while on the way back from a vacation on the McKenzie River last summer after having cataract surgery.

Lee’s body finally got the best of her. On May 19, 2019, it decided it couldn’t work another day and Lee was finally free from pain. She passed at home, her bed positioned so that she could look out at her beloved garden. All of her children and several of her grandchildren as well as Richard were there and the missing grandchildren all skyped her from Seattle and Scotland so that she could say goodbye. Her brother and sister called. Lee couldn’t talk to them, but she could listen and gesture so Richard described her gestures to them. She was surrounded by love. After her passing, Justin and Julie went into the garden for roses and covered the bed and around her head with them.

Lee loved greatly and was greatly loved. She will be greatly missed.