Gladys L Lee

Gladys Laney Lee, affectionately known to family and friends as “Happy,” passed away on February 27, 2026, at the age of 98. A longtime resident of North Hollywood, California, she lived a full and active life devoted to education, friendship, and the outdoors.

Happy spent her childhood in Roanoke Rapids, North Carolina. She was the daughter of the late Heath Edgeworth Lee and Gladys Laney Lee of Roanoke Rapids.

She attended the Woman’s College of the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where she earned her undergraduate degree, and later received her master’s degree from Wellesley College in Wellesley, Massachusetts.

She later moved to California, where she taught physical education at John Burroughs High School in Burbank. After retiring from teaching, she continued to enjoy working outdoors in the gardens at the Los Angeles Zoo.

Happy enjoyed traveling with friends and playing golf and remained active and engaged throughout her long life.

She was preceded in death by her sisters, Lillian Lee and Elladeane Lee Bowers, and by her nephew, Rob Bowers.

She is survived by her nieces, Lee Bowers and Heath Bowers Cox; five great nephews and their wives; and seven great-great nieces and nephews.

She will be remembered as the fun-loving, adventurous, and “cool” aunt whose favorite advice was simple: “Just do you.”