Longtime community member Patricia (Pat) Yuill Lee got to celebrate her 90th birthday in the company of friends and family with a celebration held at the Newell Christian Fellowship Community Hall on Saturday, July 26. Lee has spent many years as a compassionate caregiver in the community as a school nurse, churchgoer, volunteer, baker, founding member of the W.I.T. Coalition, Air Force veteran, and Lions Club member. With everything Lee has contributed to the area, Mayor Tara Tennis dedicated Pat’s birthday, July 28, 2025, as Pat Lee Day in Newell.
Family, friends, and community members gathered at the Community Hall and enjoyed cake, beverages, and fruit while socializing and sharing memories with Lee. Betty Baker, a longtime friend of Lee’s, and Karla Burke, Lee’s daughter, were instrumental in setting up the celebration event. “We met at a Lion’s Club meeting. And she said to me, do you have a church? And I said, no, I’m looking for a church. I was new in the community, and so she invited me to come to First Lutheran, which was our church here in town. And I just felt so welcome and so comfortable there,” shared Betty Baker.
“And so Pat and I have been friends for years. We traveled together, she came to the East Coast when I was out there for a few months and I took her around, I got her through surgery, she got me through surgeries. You know, it’s what girlfriends do. It’s like the old saying that your friends are the family you pick. Your family is, in some cases, okay, but the friends that you have are the family that you really look forward to.”
Karla Burke, Lee’s daughter, said that Lee “was always taking care of the church and kids and whatever community event needed food, especially always baking or cooking something for some event, and not just taking one thing, taking 10!” Burke said, “When Tara called me about writing the proclamation I said we can’t list everything, because that would almost be obscene! It’s been a lot.”
Lee continues her passion of helping others to this day; she volunteers at assisted living centers and once a month participates in an event called Cookies and Chatter where she brings baked goods and visits with patients. On how it feels to be honored, Lee said, “Well, it feels a little overwhelming, and it feels like I have really good friends and family.”
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