James Huddart Lee, 1917-2021
Jun 4, 2021
Former Pine Bluffs Post Publisher James Huddart “Jim” Lee, died December 25, 2020, in Las Vegas. He was 103.
Lee was born Nov. 27, 1917, in Harrisburg, Nebraska. Three years later, his family moved to Cheyenne, Wyoming, where he attended school.
Lee and his father, “Clarence” C.M. Lee, employees of the Wyoming Tribune in Cheyenne, bought the Pine Bluffs Post in 1937. Along with Clarence’s wife, Carrie, and much later Jim’s wife, Delores, they operated the paper until it was sold in 1971.
Lee was drafted in 1942 and was a member of the Army’s 3rd Infantry Division during World War II. He ended his Army career working on the Army’s Stars and Stripes newspaper in Strasbourge, France. Four years later, after the end of the war, he returned to Pine Bluffs and the Pine Bluffs Post.
Lee and his wife moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, after selling the Post, where he took typographical union trade school courses to learn the new photographic printing techniques. During a family trip in 1972, he stopped by the Salt Lake Tribune, where he was immediately hired to work in the composing room. He worked there for the remainder of his career.
Lee and his wife retired in Bryan, Texas, where his son and daughter-in-law lived.
Lee is survived by three sons: Larry Lee and wife, Betsy, of Bloomington, Minnesota; Scott Lee and wife, Laurie, of Blue Diamond, Nevada; Mike Lee and wife, Nancy, of Salt Lake City, Utah; four grandchildren and one great-grandchild.
He was preceded in death by his wife, Dolores, and one grandson.