MAYE GENE LEE

Maye Gene Lee died January 26, 2025, at the Lincoln County Community Center in Hugo, Colo. Just one week prior to her death, she turned 99 years old. She was born on January 18, 1926, in Dermott, Texas, one of four children to James Eugene Sanders and Lena Maye Greenfield Sanders. Maye Gene attended elementary school in Dermott, then attended high school in Fluvanna, Texas, where she played on the basketball team and participated in drama. She graduated from a class of 14 students in 1943.

Following high school, Maye Gene worked in the aviation industry in Dallas until 1946 when shew moved to Rush, Colorado. In 1948 she relocated to Hugo, Colo.

It was in Hugo where she truly made her mark. She began her first job in 1950 with KC Electric, where she helped improve the surrounding rural areas through the RCD project. Along with her first husband Arthur Snodgrass, who passed away in 1964, as well as her second husband Dock Lee, who she married in 1967, Maye Gene was an integral part of various ranching and farming operations.

In 1969, in partnership with friends Frances Delost and Mirium Derry, Maye Gene purchased Hedland Abstract, an office she eventually owned outright and ran until 2011, at which time she sold the business to friend and business partner Penny Wilkins. Throughout this time, she acquired various pieces of real estate in the Town of Hugo and its surrounding areas. Aside from multiple rental properties and a retail location named “Maye G’s Place,” perhaps the signature asset was the “Lincoln Manor,” a bed and breakfast that she effectively ran well into her 90s.

Outside of her many business efforts, she held office as the Mayor of Hugo from 1968 to 1976, serving two two-year terms and one four-year term. In that role, she was instrumental in various initiatives, including the preservation of Hugo’s Union Pacific Railroad Roundhouse and the relocation of the town’s train depot. Additionally, she was always a strong advocate for the Lincoln Community Hospital and its many fundraising needs.

Maye Gene was preceded in death by her parents, her older sister Noreen Inez Sanders, her older brother William Cordell Sanders, her younger brother Wilburn Burton “Pete” Sanders, her husbands Arthur and Dock, her step-son Joe Pat Lee and her step-grandson Sean Lee. She is survived by her three-step children, Tom Lee, Sylvia Lee Beville and Peggy Lee, numerous grandchildren and several great grandchildren.

Funeral services for Maye Gene were held at the Hugo United Methodist Church, burial followed in the Evergreen Cemetery in Hugo.  Memorial contributions should be made to the Hugo Roundhouse Preservation, Box 343, Hugo, CO.  80821 or to the Hugo Fire Dept. Box 85, Hugo, CO.  80821. 

Friends and family can register online condolences and sign the guestbook at www.brownfuneraldirectors.com. 

Visitation and funeral services were entrusted to the care of the Brown Funeral Home in Hugo, CO.