Born in Santa Maria, CA, after High School, Bill (née Bill Lee) joined the Air Force during the Korean War. Working as a jet engine mechanic, he was stationed in Libya on the Sahara Desert. Back home he married Luanne Harris, began a family, and attended Cal Poly on the G.I. Bill. Graduating in Engineering, his first job was with Litton Industries where he helped build a new plant in Lubbock, TX. Next came 15 years at IBM, as a Manager in San Jose, CA. While there, Bill attended a men’s weekend spiritual retreat which forever changed his life. Touched deeply, he felt called to ministry, attended Berkeley School of Theology and was Ordained an Episcopal Priest in 1975. Later divorced, he married his current wife Sandra Sell-Lee, (née Sandra Sell) in 1979 on a 78’ Barquentine Square Rigger off the coast of San Diego.
Moving to the Northwest, Bill and Sandy partnered in a management consulting business, and established Chrysalis, a non-profit spiritual education organization, both on Bainbridge Island, WA. Bill gradually moved into part-time parish ministry in the Diocese of Olympia. During that time he served five parishes as their Interim Priest: he felt privileged to be embedded with congregations (usually for 2 years) as they prepared to call their new Rectors. He always said Parish Ministry was the “Job of a lifetime.” He called himself “Just a simple guy from Santa Maria,” and never could quite comprehend how he got to do the work he loved so much. He served St. Barnabas Parish on Bainbridge Island as an Associate and later Interim; Trinity Parish in downtown Seattle; Epiphany in Madison Park; St. Michael’s and All Angels in Issaquah. He joined St. Luke’s in Sequim, WA as Interim, and eventually stayed 10 years as their Rector. In 2000 he left full-time ministry and began a quarter century doing what he loved best: reading and learning sitting in his big leather chair. His mornings were spent in quiet: reading, prayer, meditating. He studied everything he could find on Energy Medicine, which sprang from his participating in the church’s healing services, laying-on-of-hands, which he facilitated regularly. He took workshops in Healing Touch, Reiki, Meditation, Brain wave states and how to access each one. Cell-level healing, Spiritual Quests; he studied for a month in Jerusalem at St. George’s College, visiting many holy sites which he had read about. He accumulated his knowledge into a workshop he shared with people interested in learning about the “Journey of Our Souls: Where did we come from? Why are we here on Earth? Where do we go when we die?” He held to the notion of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin: “We are not human beings having a spiritual experience. We are spirits having a human experience.”
As he got older, in 2020 he and Sandy moved to Sonoma, CA to be near family. Curious about everything, Bill read about people’s near-death experiences, AI, archaeology and the beginnings of civilizations fascinated him; he read about Nature and the communication systems of plants and trees and how water responds to music. On his reading table are 3 novels authored by Admiral James Stavridis(ret. 4-star Admiral, he was Supreme Allied Commander at NATO), Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind. Bill marveled at the stories of interspecies friendships among the animal kingdom. He liked the History Channel. Bill loving sailing in the San Juan’s and Canadian Gulf Islands, golfing, playing pool and cards and traveling to France to visit his French family. He loved each of his dogs, rescues, as family and believed they had chosen him. He said they rescued him.
Bill’s mission: to walk beside people to help them find “the Peace of God which passes all understanding.”
Bill was himself at peace when he passed over, and is now at Peace for all Eternity.
Bill is predeceased by parents Merle and Vivian Lee (née Holmes), French sons Pascal and Georges Merjanoff, and his sister Linda. He is survived by his wife Sandra (Sandy) Sell-Lee (née Sell); his Children Jay Lee and Terri Roberson; his Grandson Connor Lee, Granddaughter Sarah Appel (Matt); and his Great Granddaughters, Ella Appel and Piper Appel.
A service of Celebration of Bill’s Lives will be held Friday, November 29, 2024 at 11:00 am PST; at St. Patrick’s Episcopal Church, 9000 Sonoma Hwy, Kenwood, CA. The service will be available to view live on ZOOM:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/3596100851
Meeting ID: 359 610 0851
For those attending, directions to Reception will be handed out at the end of the service.
To honor Bill’s life and memories, in lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to Thrive Animal Rescue (thriveanimalrescue.com); Operation Smile, giving children their smile back (Operationsmile.org); or Gifts of Sight for children (SEVA.org)
