Bette Lee Coburn '42

Born in Chicago, Bette Lee attended Grinnell College. When World War II began, she was living in Biloxi, Mississippi, and became an instructor of Army Air Force recruits at Keesler Field's Aviation Mechanics School. Later, she returned to Chicago, where she was a women's fashion buyer for The Fair.

After marrying Marvin Coburn and becoming the mother of two children, Bette Lee resumed her studies at the Chicago Art Institute and the Evanston Art Center. An accomplished artist when her husband's career in the textile industry brought her to Greenville in 1956, she volunteered to work on sets at the Little Theatre as a way to meet kindred spirits. When director Robert H. McClaine discovered she could dance, she was given a role in "The Boyfriend."

But painting was her passion and by achieving honors in juried exhibitions, Bette Lee came to the attention of influential members of the region's visual arts community. Columbia Museum of Art director John Richard Craft offered her a one-woman show and became an important early mentor.