Mildred Marie Anderson Lee

Mildred Marie Anderson Lee, 87, passed from this life on May 16, 2023, at Commonwealth Senior Living in Abingdon, where she had resided for six years. She was born on May 29, 1935, on a farm in the Poor Valley section of Washington County, Virginia, to her late parents, Luther David and Nannie Pearl Musick Anderson.

Millie is survived by two daughters whom she loved dearly, Michele Duncan (David) and Laura Blevins (Rick), both of Abingdon. She is also survived by her much loved and precious grandchildren, Kyra Raines (Joey) of Kingsport, Tennessee, Tristan Duncan, and Mara Duncan of Abingdon, and her cherished siblings, Imogene McCray (Warren), Katherine Godsey (Jim) of Abingdon, and William V. Anderson (Betty) of Goshen, Indiana. Millie also has a number of surviving beloved nieces, nephews, grandnieces, and grandnephews. She was pre-deceased by brothers Robert David Anderson and Norris Wright Anderson, nephew Jeff McCray, and her former husband Gene Harvey Lee.

In 1952, Millie graduated from Meadowview High School, and after deciding on what she might want to do when she grew up, in 1954 she enrolled in the Pulaski Hospital School of Nursing. Millie figured out that nursing was her calling, and she became an RN in 1956. After a few years of working as a nurse at hospitals in Saltville, Johnson City, Tennessee, Bristol, Tennessee, and Fort Bragg, North Carolina, she found her true passion in public health to which she was introduced by her late sister-in-law Reba Faye Coomer Anderson. In 2002, Millie retired from the Bristol Virginia Public Health Department after more than 30 years serving as a public health nurse. Once asked what she liked about nursing, she said that she liked helping people. Even while living at CSL, Millie could be observed doing evening rounds and donning a surgical glove, making sure the other residents were cared for. When CSL staff noted that Millie “used to be a nurse,” she corrected them with, “I am a nurse.”

Millie's girls were surprised to learn that she received C's in home economics. Sometimes known as Miss Hospital Corners, Millie kept an ultra-clean house and always had plenty of food in the fridge to share with friends and neighbors.  Growing up on a farm during the Great Depression, Millie learned the benefit of hard work. She took the Apostle Paul's admonition of not being idle seriously. Whether she was nursing, cooking, cleaning, gardening, babysitting nieces, nephews, grandchildren, or grand dogs, she didn't sit idle.

Millie's faith in God, love for her family, and service to others were paramount in her life. In 1967, at Anderson's Chapel in Saltville, Millie's cousin Curtis Sword baptized her into the Lord's church. She was a faithful member of the Abingdon Church of Christ, and before dementia took her from her activities, she participated in a number of church programs, including assisting with making teddy bears for children in the community who face medical procedures, providing meals to shut-ins, and hosting Bible classes in her home.

While Millie's family are sad to say goodbye, they are happy that she has thrown off the shackles of this world.  The family express deep appreciation to the staff at CSL who cared for Millie for the last years of her life. Although she didn't like going to assisted living in the beginning, it became a home to her where she felt safe and loved.

Visitation with the family will be held on Tuesday, May 30, from 4:00-6:00 p.m. at the Abingdon Church of Christ and will be followed by a funeral service at 6:00 p.m., with Joe Scroggin and Minister Nathan Liddell officiating. Interment will follow on Wednesday, May 31, at 11:00 a.m., at Mt. Rose Cemetery in Glade Spring.

The family of Mildred Marie Anderson Lee is being cared for by Farris Funeral Service & Crematory, 427 East Main Street, Abingdon, VA 24210, 276-623-2700.