I spent the first half of December checking an item off my bucket list by sailing on the Coral Princess through the Caribbean islands and passing through the Panama Canal before traveling north with stops in Costa Rica and Mexico.
Shortly after boarding the ship, I received a Facebook message from Bonnie Canaday Coumbs sharing the news that her husband, Lee, wasn’t well and asking me to call. Unfortunately, I hadn’t yet figured out how to call while at sea, so I missed my opportunity to say goodbye. Lee died on Dec. 9, three days after his 82nd birthday, after fighting bladder cancer for almost seven months. A memorial service is scheduled for March 8 at Centralia College.
While on the cruise, I read the wonderful tributes by fellow columnist Brian Mittge, who recalled Lee’s contributions to the community as founder of Centralia’s Fourth of July Summerfest, the Spring Youth Fair and the Fort Borst Park annual Christmas light display. He led the creation of the Riverside Fire Authority and oversaw the Southwest Washington Fair for seven years. After the devastating flood of 2007, Lee grilled hamburgers to help victims, despite the fact that the deluge had damaged his grilling equipment at the fairgrounds.
After returning home from my cruise and finally kicking the cough I brought with me, I pulled out a cardboard box where I store treasured memorabilia from my life. Inside, I found a photo of Lee, as Centralia’s mayor, handing me a paper — a proclamation voicing appreciation for my unbiased reporting at The Daily Chronicle and wishing me the best in my move to The Daily News in Longview.
I probably first met Lee at the Southwest Washington Fair when he was manager, as each Chronicle reporter covered one day of the fair, taking photos and writing stories. But I grew better acquainted with him after covering Centralia’s change in 1986 from a three-member commission to a city council form of government with an elected mayor and a professional manager at the helm. Lee opposed the change, contending a seven-member council seemed too cumbersome, but he ran for the council, just in case the measure passed, which it did.
Lee won election to the brand-new Centralia City Council, which then elected him as mayor.
When he ran for election, Lee told me people want a leader with a positive attitude, rather than someone who sits back and complains. He described his weaknesses as possibly being too trusting of people and tending to become overextended. And, he said, voters “know you by what you’ve done.”
People knew Lee, who had moved to Centralia in 1970 to teach vocational agriculture at Centralia High School, managed the Southwest Washington Fair, and served as head teacher at the Centralia Kiwanis Vocational Homes. He later taught at Centralia College and managed Downey Auto Center.
While serving on the council, he was also business manager of the Spring Youth Fair, president of the Lewis County Fourth of July Association and a member of the Centralia Planning Commission.
Lee was born on Dec. 6, 1942, near Spokane in Opportunity, Washington — an apt birth town for a man who made the most of his opportunities in life and created opportunities for others. He grew up in Newport, Washington, and married his high school sweetheart, Martha “Marty” Allan, on June 8, 1963, two years after she graduated. They raised two daughters, Rebecca “Becky” Gilham and LeAnn Rupke, instilled a love of the Lord in them, and celebrated 52 years of marriage before Marty passed away at 72 on Oct. 12, 2015.
Both Lee and Marty supported their daughters in all their activities.
“He was always there at every concert or musical I was in during high school and would travel if my college choir was performing anywhere near here to hear me sing,” said Becky, who retired from the Centralia Christian School and shared an author table with me at the Book ’N’ Brush open house last month. “Whenever I performed, whether it was an acting performance, choir, band or solo, I could never look at him because he would be sitting there crying.”
As a high school senior, Becky learned from her mother that she needed to attend a special Elks meeting because her father was receiving the Volunteer of the Year award. “She told Dad that he needed to go because I was getting the Teenager of the Year award,” Becky said. “She was the only one that knew we were both getting an award that night.”
Both Lee and Marty Coumbs were honored as grand marshals of one of the Summerfest Fourth of July parades.
“It was so good to see the two of them together,” Becky said. “Whatever he did, she was right there serving beside him. She always said that if she wanted to see Dad, she needed to help with what he was doing! (I think Bonnie realized that too.)”
Like Brian Mittge mentioned in his tribute, I remember buying food at the fair from Lee and Marty at the Sausage Haus restaurant, always served with a hearty hello and friendly smile.
As the centennial of the Southwest Washington Fair approached in 2009, I reconnected with Lee to interview him for the book Chapters of Life at the Southwest Washington Fair. He shared stories of his tenure as fair manager and graciously reviewed and edited the draft before the book was published in 2015. He served as manager from 1978 to 1985 and founded the Lewis County Spring Youth Fair, which began its first three-day run on May 21, 1982. He oversaw the fair during the eruptions of Mount St. Helens, when ash spread over the fairground’s 70 acres where his daughters had learned to drive. He oversaw construction of restrooms and a large cow palace and dairy pavilion, reinstated pari-mutuel harness racing in September 1983 as the short-lived Fair Meadows, organized the fair’s 75th anniversary activities in July 1984, and expanded the acreage of the fairgrounds and events held there throughout the year. He also joined in many of the fair’s contests with great cheer.
After Marty died, Lee married Bonnie Canaday on Aug. 28, 2016, and they shared eight years traveling and volunteering together before his death.
They had known each other for decades after working together as volunteers and council members.
Lee’s servant heart and spirit engulfed those who knew him. Whenever I saw him, he always offered a warm hug and a smile.
Lee’s legacy lives on in the festivals he founded, the community spirit he nurtured, the daughters he raised and the four grandchildren and six great-grandchildren he cherished.
He will be missed.
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Julie McDonald, a personal historian from Toledo, may be reached at memoirs@chaptersoflife.com.
