Jesus answered him,  "What I'm about to tell you is true.  Today you will be with me in paradise."
~Luke 23:43

Blanche Inez Lee, age 71, died of colon cancer on October 31, 2017 in Richmond University Medical Center on Staten Island, New York. Blanche was born on April 4, 1946 in the old Staten Island hospital to parents Leslie W. Stewart Jr. and Callie C. Stewart (Butts).  In 1964 she graduated from George W. Wingate high school in Brooklyn, New York.  Shortly after, in 1966, she married husband Richard Lee, and in April of 1968, she gave birth to her only child Richard Anthony Lee.  In 1971 she accepted a position at Nynex (which eventually came to be known as Verizon).  After she retired, she dedicated 15 years of service at TJ Maxx on Staten Island.  She retired from there in 2013. 

Blanche had a love and a passion for all things spiritual, earth and energy related.  She has a beautiful collection of oils, incense, stones, masks and various things of that nature.  She owned a store with various trinkets, figurines, other items from her collections as well as jewelry. She first opened for business on Port Richmond Avenue, and then she moved to a location on Cebra Avenue.

Blanche is survived by two brothers, Charles Norman Butts and Leslie W. Stewart III, her son Richard Anthony Lee, and the two granddaughters that she adored, Gabriella E. Lee and Stephanie M. Lee.  She is predeceased by both parents and one of her brothers. Her father passed away July 16, 2010 and her mother on March 19, 2006 and her brother Russel James Stewart who passed away October 22, 2000.