Kathy Lee died peacefully on Wednesday, September 17, 2025 at Oak Hills Living Center in New Ulm, MN, at the age of 97 years.

A funeral service will be at 11 AM on Tuesday, September 23, 2025, at the Minnesota Valley Funeral Home – SOUTH chapel. Burial will follow in the Lake Fremont Cemetery in Dunnell.

Visitation will be held from 9:30 – 11AM on Tuesday at the funeral home, prior to the service.

To leave an online condolence for the family, or to sign the guestbook, please visit: www.mvfh.org

She was born June 28, 1928 in Graceville, MN to Nicholas Philagios and Evelyn Katherine (Johnson). She grew up on a farm between Clinton and Graceville, MN. After high school she attended the University of MN Duluth and graduated with a double major in History and English with an education degree. She taught in Douglas, Wyoming and in Sherburn, MN along with a preschool for each of her children. She married Robert L. Lee on September 12, 1953 in Clinton, MN. They raised five children in Sherburn, where she moved from in 1999 to New Ulm.

Kathy was an artist and drew and painted the barns of Martin County then recorded the history and dimensions of the barns. She was famous for her coffee parties and entertaining guests from around the world. She hosted AFS students and Friendship Force guests along with many friends and relatives from other counties. Her early 4H experiences gave her good baking skills. She was a prolific reader and studied in depth WWII and the Dakota Conflict along with her genealogy, of which she recorded volumes of family history. Kathy loved to travel and was in Europe numerous times, touring and visiting friends and relatives. She also travelled all 48 lower states in the U.S.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her sisters Marie Zehringer, Ruth Keith and her brother John Philagios and other relatives and friends.

She is survived by her daughters Diana (Donald) Lee Schaefer, Virginia (David) Anderson, Tanya Lee and sons James (Evie) Lee, and Charles (Lori) Lee. Five Grandchildren Jesse Anderson, Seth Schaefer, Ashton Lee, Jasmine and Adam Lee. Great Grandchildren Jonas and Jax Anderson, Kelcie & Cody Schaefer.