Obituary of Ellen Rose Lee

Ellen Rose Gengler Lee died peacefully on Friday 6/9/17 from cancer at age 70 in her Chapel Hill, NC home with her husband of 27 years Peter H. Lee and her sister Audrey Gilman at her side. She is survived by her brothers Leon Gengler (Candy) of Slayton, MN, Donald Gengler (Colleen) of Iona, MN, Mark Gengler (Diane) of Owatonna, MN, and Carl Gengler of Slayton, MN; her sisters Ann Gengler (Steven) of St. Paul, MN, Audrey Gilman (Bruce) of Woodbury, MN, Gwen Scarasso (Albert) of Austin, TX, and Kristin Malady (John) of Mechanicsburg, PA; her step-daughter Sharon (David) and grand-daughter Hannah; more than 40 first cousins, and many nieces and nephews. Her parents Leo and Dolores Gengler of Slayton, MN and her brother Dale Gengler (Irene) of Falcon Heights, MN predeceased her. After graduation from St. Columba High School in Iona, MN she attended the College of St. Teresa in Winona, MN for her BS in nursing and then worked as an RN in Rochester, MN. She moved to Salt Lake City where she obtained her physician assistant certification, and then moved to San Jose where she worked for 20 years as a nurse practitioner. Ellen moved to North Carolina for her husband's new job in 1997. There she retired and enjoyed volunteering in adult literacy programs, reading with elementary school children, vegetable gardening, and taking long distance car trips around the country. She enjoyed the outdoors be it hiking, camping, canoeing, backpacking, bird-watching or simply sitting. She loved both cooking and tasting new and different foods. The neighborhood children, her friends, and family knew Ellen for her kindness, generosity, gentleness, and caring. A Celebration of Life is scheduled for 3:30pm, Thursday July 6, 2017 at the Carrboro United Methodist Church at 200 Hillsborough Road, Carrboro, NC 27510. A Mass of Intention is scheduled for 5pm, Saturday August 5, 2017 at St. Ann's Catholic Church at 2747 29th St, Slayton, MN 56172, followed with a meal at St. Columba Catholic Church Hall at 451 McDonnell Ave, Iona, MN 56141 An additional Celebration will be scheduled California for after Labor Day, 2017. Please check back for details. In lieu of flowers, you may send a donation to either: 1) Orange Literacy "Give Online" button at the right-hand side of the webpage http://orangeliteracy.org/give/ or 2) Yosemite National Park Child Care Center (Grand-daughter's school) "Donate" button at the end of this website http://ynpccc.weebly.com/fundraising.html Checks can be written YNPCCC and mailed to PO Box 916, Yosemite, CA 95389, Walker's Funeral Home of Chapel Hill is honored to serve the Lee family. Online condolences may be offered at www.walkersfuneralservice.com.