20% Bacall + 80% Channing = 100% Lee

The woman who founded Carolina Romance Writers in (I think) 1985 died in December. She was 80 years old. Her name was Lee.

Actually, that’s not true. Her name was Nellie. But deep down inside herself, she knew she wasn’t a Nellie, had never been a Nellie and would never be a Nellie. So she reinvented herself as Lee.

Picture her this way: Lee was part Lauren Bacall and part Carol Channing. She had a laugh that was bold and brassy, much like her long blond hair. She smoked cigarettes. She had a quirky sense of humor. She wrote romance novels and lived with cats.

I don’t know who Nellie was. I never met her and Lee rarely  mentioned her. I didn’t even know she existed the first ten years I knew Lee.

Nellie’s obituary didn’t mention Lee. It didn’t mention Carolina Romance Writers. It didn’t mention the romance novel published in 1992 under yet another name. The obituary didn’t mention how many people became published novelists because of her hard work in establishing a local chapter of one of the most vibrant writers’ organizations in the world. It didn’t mention any of this maybe because Lee was very private. Maybe it didn’t mention any of this because Nellie was ashamed of Lee, or vice versa. Or both.

Or maybe it was just because Lee liked the idea of slipping out quietly, having the last bold, brassy laugh.

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