A Passion for Mountains, Trails and Mazamas
Dean D. Lee of Portland, Oregon died peacefully after succumbing to complications of dementia on Friday January 30, 2015. He was 73 years old.
Dean was born December 2, 1941 in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to Willard and Evelyn Lee. He was the first born of identical twins – with his brother Dale being the second born twin.
After high school graduation Dean proudly served in the U.S. Navy for three years as a Morse code radio operator. He then graduated from St. Martin’s University in Lacey, WA with a degree in Accounting and retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 2003.
Dean was an active mountain climb leader and
hike leader with the Mazamas – a 120 year-old mountaineering organization based in Portland. When Dean joined the Mazamas in 1991 at the age of 50 he discovered a passion for mountain climbing. He kicked his smoking habit and dove deeply into climbing.
As a climb leader, Dean loved filling his climbs with the maximum amount of 12 people and getting them all to the summit of Northwest mountains such as Mt. Hood, Mt. St. Helens, Mt. Rainer and Mt. Jefferson to name a few.
He was especially careful in always having half of his climbs filled with women as he thought it made the team dynamics more fun and encouraged women to climb. Dean’s climbs and climbing education classes were legendary for their bonding and fun adventures.
Dean enjoyed numerous trips with friends that involved climbing, hiking and trekking in Mexico, the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps, Nepal, Tibet, Scotland, Tanzania and the Dolomites. Fun and laughter seemed to always follow Dean.
When climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro, the Tanzanian porters gave Dean the nickname of “Simba” which means lion in Swahili. Every morning he was awakened by the porters yelling out, “Coffee Simba?”
Dean is survived by his wife, Megan Johnson; his first wife, Ella, and their sons Michael, Darren, and Steven; his brother, Dale (Susan), his younger sister, Judy (Jim) and his younger brother, David (Kim); three grandchildren from Darren and Jodi Lee’s marriage, Haven, Gabriel and Ciena; and many nephews and nieces. Dean’s parents and one younger brother, Robert, preceded him in death.
A private burial service is to be held in Vancouver, WA. A celebration of life will be held from 3pm to 7pm at the Mazama Mountaineering Center on Saturday February 7th, 2015, located at 527 SE 43rd Ave. Portland, OR 97215. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Mazamas.
Dean's Climbing Info:
Dean joined the Mazamas at the age of 50 in 1991. He accumulated his Guardian Peaks Award, 7 Oregon Cascade Peaks Award and the 16 Peaks Award. He graduated from Advanced Rock and Advanced Snow classes and became a climb leader in 1996. In 2002 Dean was awarded the Terry Becker Award from the Climb Committee for leading the 16 Peaks. He led over 70 climbs for the Mazamas while also leading his own BCEP class for ten years. He taught and mentored many current climb leaders and has enjoyed seeing them take leadership roles in the Mazamas.
Dean's Hiking Stats:
Dean is ranked #2 on rambles with 620,
tied for 2nd for most hike leads in one year (101 in 2009-10); first in most street rambles in one year (92 in 2009-10) had the most leads in the decade of 2000-09 with 564 most-active leader 3 years consecutive: 2007-08 (87), 2008-09 (89) and 2009-10 (101) ...and #2 in 2006-07 (64).
Dean was born December 2, 1941 in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota to Willard and Evelyn Lee. He was the first born of identical twins – with his brother Dale being the second born twin.
After high school graduation Dean proudly served in the U.S. Navy for three years as a Morse code radio operator. He then graduated from St. Martin’s University in Lacey, WA with a degree in Accounting and retired from the U.S. Forest Service in 2003.
Dean was an active mountain climb leader and
hike leader with the Mazamas – a 120 year-old mountaineering organization based in Portland. When Dean joined the Mazamas in 1991 at the age of 50 he discovered a passion for mountain climbing. He kicked his smoking habit and dove deeply into climbing.
He was especially careful in always having half of his climbs filled with women as he thought it made the team dynamics more fun and encouraged women to climb. Dean’s climbs and climbing education classes were legendary for their bonding and fun adventures.
Dean enjoyed numerous trips with friends that involved climbing, hiking and trekking in Mexico, the Swiss, French and Austrian Alps, Nepal, Tibet, Scotland, Tanzania and the Dolomites. Fun and laughter seemed to always follow Dean.
Dean is survived by his wife, Megan Johnson; his first wife, Ella, and their sons Michael, Darren, and Steven; his brother, Dale (Susan), his younger sister, Judy (Jim) and his younger brother, David (Kim); three grandchildren from Darren and Jodi Lee’s marriage, Haven, Gabriel and Ciena; and many nephews and nieces. Dean’s parents and one younger brother, Robert, preceded him in death.
A private burial service is to be held in Vancouver, WA. A celebration of life will be held from 3pm to 7pm at the Mazama Mountaineering Center on Saturday February 7th, 2015, located at 527 SE 43rd Ave. Portland, OR 97215. In lieu of flowers, donations are suggested to the Mazamas.
Dean's Climbing Info:
Dean's Hiking Stats:
Dean is ranked #2 on rambles with 620,
tied for 2nd for most hike leads in one year (101 in 2009-10); first in most street rambles in one year (92 in 2009-10) had the most leads in the decade of 2000-09 with 564 most-active leader 3 years consecutive: 2007-08 (87), 2008-09 (89) and 2009-10 (101) ...and #2 in 2006-07 (64).
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