Lee Newman McMillion
Feb. 16, 1934-Nov. 30, 2023
Grand Rapids, MI
Lee Newman McMillion passed away on November 30, 2023 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, at the age of 89, after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease.
He grew up in Larchmont, NY and Alexandria, VA before moving to Wheaton, IL. He attended Wheaton High School, where he met his high school sweetheart and wife of 67 years, Lynn Carol Cooley on a blind date.
Lee attended Princeton University on a Navy ROTC scholarship where he majored in Chemical Engineering and was a member of the marching band. After graduation, he served in the Navy for six years including time on the USS Foss, DE-59.
Lee had a diverse career, as he enjoyed doing things that had never been done. On a trip to extend his Navy career, a chance tour of NASA led to being hired on the spot. One of the highlights of his life was working with the Mercury 7 astronauts, building the first space suit for manned spaceflight.
Later, as an avid Consumer Reports reader, he relocated to Connecticut where he headed up one of their product testing divisions.
1966 was the beginning of a long career in intelligence. Over his 27 year career, Lee worked in 12 different positions, each with its own large and talented team. He later described this work as “still making technological history”. His first project would be the Corona Project; a satellite program that succeeded U2 surveillance, taking film in space, dropping it back to earth, where it was snagged in midair as it parachuted toward earth. Corona famously failed 13 times on launch before succeeding. Like the first spacesuits, the Corona Project is now in the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum where Lee delighted in showing his grandchildren decades later.
From 1967-1973, while working on Corona, Lee lived in Palo Alto, CA. Sailing, Greenmeadow, and coaching softball were all enjoyed with family. Lee and Lynn helped start the South Palo Alto Bobby Sox league ~1970, in an era before Title IX, when sports for girls were hard to find, and girls softball in the US was still quite rare. Friends from that era are clearly remembered fifty years later.
In 1973, Lee transferred to the East Coast. Living first in Vienna, VA then in Alexandria, VA where he and Lynn lived for 36 years within a mile of where he grew up. He delighted in the deep history of that locale, and Washington, DC. In the last part of his intelligence career, Lee took a course in project management, and enjoyed it so much he became an instructor, and was asked to keep teaching after his retirement in 1994. Project Management is key for systems and projects so large that numerous internal groups and contractors must work as one.
In 1992, Lee took his first trip abroad to Florence where he discovered a love of travel. Lee and Lynn made trips to Italy, Greece, Turkey, Panama, Spain, England, Germany, Austria, China, Africa, Egypt and more.
History, reading, and music were central to who he was. Lee delighted in people, learning and conversation. Since work in intelligence is classified, conversation could never be about work.
After the move east, reunions were easier to attend. Later a nucleus of Princeton band alumni and the “Born Again Band” made reunions a delight. Music, including band, waltzes, musicals, classical, Wagner, Gilbert & Sullivan, and french horn were woven deep in Lee’s life.
As Lee turned 80, Alzheimer’s became a force. As it took one thing after another, the core of who Lee was became ever clearer: a deep affection for the world and the people in it, smiles, humor, and “I love you.”
Lee was predeceased by his parents: Shelby & Charlotte (Wardale) McMillion and his younger sister, Judith McMillion Custer. He is survived by his wife, Lynn McMillion; daughters Karen (Clark) McCombs and Amy Goldsmith; daughter-in-law, Deborah Goldsmith; four grandchildren, Erin (Scott) Gillis, Patrick McCombs, Jane Goldsmith and Matthew (Nikole) Goldsmith; and one great grandson, Oliver Lee Gillis.
Tags: veteran, public service
