Robert Edd Lee

Robert Edd Lee died on Wednesday, Jan. 14, 2015, in Billings, due to complications of skin cancer.

Bob was born on July 6, 1940, in Reno, Nev., to Edd and Pearl (Koscianska) Lee. His father, a Reno contractor originally from Kentucky, and his mother, a seamstress from Buffalo, N.Y., had met in Reno in 1938 while Pearl was visiting her sister Virginia Reid, whose husband Tom Reid operated a hydro-electric station west of Verdi on the Truckee River. After attending schools in Reno at St. Thomas Aguinas, B.D. Billinghurst Junior High (Plumas Street) and Reno High School, where he graduated in 1958, Bob matriculated at the University of Nevada at Reno. He received his BS degree and was commissioned a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Ordnance Corps in 1964.

Bob met and married Roxane Jensen of Elko, Nev., in 1962, while they were both students at university. When he returned from Vietnam in 1966, Bob was stationed at Tooele Army Depot in central Utah, where he first met his future law partner, Captain Kemp J. Wilson, who was, at the time, Depot legal officer. Because Bob was scheduled to attend law school at University of Denver after release from active duty, Bob and Kemp became close friends with shared interest in the law and mountain backpacking. After Bob received his Juris Doctor degree in 1970, Kemp Wilson discouraged him from returning to Nevada and invited him to apply at Crowley, Kilbourne, Haughey, Hanson & Gallagher, the Billings firm where Kemp was then practicing law. After passing the bar examinations in Colorado, Nevada and Montana, Bob joined the Crowley law firm in 1970 as its 18th practicing lawyer. He practiced law with that firm as associate and partner for 23 years, during which time the firm grew from under 20 to over 70 lawyers.

Bob's children, Andraya Joan Lee and Michael Jensen Lee, were born and reared in Billings. Bob and Roxane divorced in 1993.

In 1994, Bob joined Earl Hanson, Dwain Roybal and Gregory Todd in the formation of a four-lawyer litigation firm with offices at the TransWestern Plaza. In time, Earl Hanson left the firm to counsel JTL, Inc., and Gregory Todd was appointed a District Judge. During the past several years, Bob and Dwaine Roybal continued to practice law as Roybal & Lee, P.C., "just two old lawyers on their way to retirement, one heart attack away from a solo practice." Bob greatly respected and appreciated his secretary, Allene Reiter, who was with him since 1979. Bob often remarked that "a lawyer could not have a more conscientious and loyal friend and colleague than Allene has been to me and my partners during these many years."

Bob has shared his life with Betty Wilson, and the couple treasured the later years they were able to spend together. After realizing that he was not backpacking in the Beartooths so often, Bob and Betty took up golf at Hilands Golf Club in 1995. Bob wanted to take up a recreation that involved walking, and he thought "golf must be easy, because I see so many old people doing it." He was quickly disabused of that conceit, and during the past two decades, he struggled to develop his game. He said if he lived long enough, he might someday score his age. It was not to be. Actually, on any given day, he was lucky to score his temperature.

Bob treasured his years practicing law in Montana. He often said, "Montana was blessed with good judges and jurors of the highest dedication and fairness, which made the practice of law a joy. For a courtroom lawyer, Montana truly was the ‘last best place' during my four decades in the profession."

Bob is survived by his life companion, Betty Wilson; his children, Michael and Andraya; his brother, Thomas W. Lee of Reno; his nieces and nephew, Melanie McCartney, Lara (Pat) Dreelan and Anthony (Melissa) Lee of Reno; and Betty's children, Megan Wilson of San Francisco, Bradley (Bridgette) Wilson of St. Paul and Stewart (Misty) Wilson of Birmingham, Ala. We loved you, Dad, and we will miss you.

Cremation has taken place. Memorial services will be 2 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 20, at Michelotti-Sawyers Mortuary. Interment with military honors will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, Jan. 21, at Yellowstone National Cemetery.

Memorials may be made to the Billings Clinic Oncology Center.