Obituary of Mary Louise Lee

Mary Louise “Cookie” (Vailliant) Lee, a woman devoted to her family, passed away on September 3, 2019.  The beloved wife of Herbert Lee she was 77 years old.

Mary was born, raised and educated in Woburn.   Mary and Herb settled in the Winnmere section of Burlington where they would raise their five children.   For the past 19 years they lived in a beautiful log cabin in Penobscot Maine that they built themselves. Penobscot is a village located along the coast of Hancock County that has two small mountains, ponds, farmland, blueberry fields and more than 18 miles of shoreland.  It was the perfect place for Mary to live being surrounded by nature and animals.  She would think nothing of feeding the local deer, birds and even bears!   She loved taking trips to the Ocean with Rockport being one of her favorite destinations.   She also enjoyed hiking and just last month visited Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park in Maine with her daughters Tammy and Nadine.  

Mary worked part-time at Sammy’s in the Winnmere section of Burlington.  However, her most cherished role was that of wife, mother and grandmother.  She was devoted to children and grandchildren.   There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for them.   She always looked forward to their visits to Maine. 

Mary was the beloved wife of 60 years of Herbert Lee.  She was the loving mother of Thomas and his partner Lorraine Kelly  of Billerica, Tammy Howland & her husband Kenny of Wilmington, Nadine Martin & her husband Edward of Hermon, ME, Robert & his wife Lisa of Billerica and the late Johnny Lee.  Proud grandmother of Leah, Ryan, Rachael, Sean & Danielle Martin, Katie, Emma and Ashleigh Howland and Tommy, Josh, Brian & Dylan Lee.  Great Grandmother of Aubree Martin.   Sister of Ronnie Vailliant of Somerville, Tish Vailliant of Woburn, Sandra Coakley of Woburn and the late Carol Ross along with many nieces and nephews.   A Celebration of Mary’s life will be held at the American Legion Hall, 162 Winn St. Burlington on Saturday, September 28^th from 2-6 p.m.  Relatives & friends respectfully invited to attend.   In lieu of flowers memorials in Mary’s name may be made to the MSPCA, 350 S. Huntington Ave., Jamaica Plain, MA 02130.