Letarae (Lee) Wilson was born August 31, 1936 in McCurtain County (Broken Bow), Oklahoma. She officially passed away at the age of 89 on December 4, 2025.

Lee's father worked in the timber industry in Oklahoma and later moved the family to northern California/southern Oregon to continue working in the timber industry. Lee helped her father cut trees to earn money. She graduated from Grants Pass Oregon High School and started attending college in Washington State. She ran out of money and took a job in San Francisco, CA and met Bert Sanders (who was in the Marine Corps) at a party. They married on March 30, 1957 and welcomed three children Sandy Sanders Olinger, Gregory Del Sanders, and Rebecca Beth Sanders Cagle, within three years while Bert attended college in San Francisco. Upon graduation from college, Bert moved the family to Opelika, AL (near Auburn) to take an engineering job. After one year the family moved to Huntsville, AL.

Lee is survived by all three of her children, five grandchildren (Raymond Olinger, Jeri Sanders Cilyok, Jason Sanders, Trevor Sanders and Brandon Cook), twelve great-grandchildren, and one great-great granddaughter. Lee was the second of four children born to Raymond Clifton Wilson and Nora Ina Brewer Wilson. She was preceded in death by her parents, her sister Lorry Wilson Miller and her two brothers; R.C. Wilson and J.C. Wilson. Lee was preceded in death by her nieces and nephews; Terry Miller, Celia Lee Sanders Billingsley, Mike Layne, and Don Layne. Her surviving nieces and nephews are Jim Sanders, Claude (Boone) Sanders, Clay Layne, David Layne, Ricky Miller, Becky Sanders Thorton, Sheila Sanders Scott, Kathy Miller Mosebrook, Stacy Wilson Hinton, Ranelle Wilson, and Jessica Wilson. She has numerous grand and great-grand nieces and nephews.

Lee was not pleased with living in Alabama. She hated the weather and the humidity. Once she divorced Bert in 1974 she moved herself and her three children to Oregon in the summer of 1975. Greg was then sent that summer to live with Bert in St. Paul, MN. Sandy and Beth went with Greg (by Greyhound bus) from Oregon to Minnesota for a visit. Sandy wanted to go back to Alabama and spend her senior year of High School at Butler. Bert's father died in Alabama in August 1975 and Bert and the kids drove down from Minnesota to attend the funeral. Sandy remained in Alabama with her Aunt Mary Beth Layne. Beth returned to Oregon to live with Lee and Greg remained in Minnesota with Bert. Beth eventually returned to Alabama once she turned 18. Sandy lured Greg back to Alabama once she started college.​ Greg moved back to Huntsville, met his future wife, got married, started and completed college, and grew a wonderful family.

Lee tried for years to get her children to move to Oregon. Her plan never worked. She eventually gave up and moved back to Huntsville to be near her children and grandchildren. During those years Lee spent working in the Loan Closing/Title industry. She also pursued her artistic talent for painting and making crafts. She took art classes from Susan Reichert in Oregon. Lee was always a talented seamstress. She made a lot of clothes for Sandy and Beth and also made their ballet costumes. Lee was also a gifted cook. All of her friends and family could not understand how she was a better southern cook than they were. She had the natural ability for cooking. Lee really enjoyed being around her kids, grandkids and her friends. She wanted to know all the gossip and spent many hours on the phone while drinking coffee and smoking. She had a great sense of humor and was very out-spoken in her language. She loved animals, particularly cats and dogs. Lee spent many years in Oregon with her two brothers RC and JC and their wives Lila and Peggy and their families and her close friend Ron Helderman. Some of her other close friends from Oregon included Marlene Bouch from High School, Lori and John Luce, Luke Templeton, and Vickie Lupton who came to visit her a few times in Alabama. In Alabama, Lee was very close to her sister-in-law Margaret Sanders. Lee's other close friends included Barbara Saunders VandeVort (Huntsville), Faye Seay (Huntsville), Jodi Briley Weinstein (Huntsville), and her very close neighbor and friend who was with her on almost a daily basis for the past 20 years - Ruby Southard (Madison).