Lee Hamilton

HAMILTON, Lee
Born August 1, 1922, passed away on April 26, 2004, after a number of months of declining health. Leland Ray Hamilton, a native Californian, was born in Oakland. He grew up in Oakland and San Rafael, where his aunt, Beryl Hamilton Buck, raised him. He attended UC Berkeley before joining the Army Air Force in April 1942. Lee spent the war years as a pilot, spending 2 years in India flying C46s to Burma and China with 104 round trips over the Himalayas ("The Hump"). He retired from active duty in December 1945, with the rank of Captain. For the next four years, he was a Pan American pilot before returning to active duty in 1950. During the Korean conflict, Lee flew the C124 Globemaster, the largest airplane flying at the time. He also flew SAC missions throughout the world, transporting atomic weapons. In 1944, Lee married Barbara Currier and had four children (three boys and a girl). On September 1, 1952, thirty days before his planned discharge from the Air Force, Lee contracted polio. Following over a year of hospitalization and therapy, Lee had lost his ability to walk. Returning to college in 1954, he completed a degree in accounting and held various accounting management positions up until his retirement in 1976. Following the invention of a simple private airplane hand control in 1972, Lee started flying again after 25 years. He continued to fly another 25 years until 1997, logging over 4,000 hours in his Cherokee 180 and Bonanza A36. He flew as far south as Trinidad, north as far as the North Pole and east as far as Iceland, as part of the First Transatlantic Air Rally. Lee was involved with CWA (California Wheelchair Pilots), and was a volunteer for Air Lifeline, transporting patients for local hospitals. Lee was a founding board member for the Marin Community Foundation in 1981, representing the family of Beryl Hamilton Buck during the initial years of the foundation's development. Lee married June Imus Tenbrook in 1979, living in San Francisco, Emeryville, San Ramon, Walnut Creek, Lafayette and Carson City. In 1993, Lee and June built a home in Dayton, Nevada that included a 4000 sq. ft. airplane hanger. They moved to Paradise Valley Estates Retirement Community in Fairfield in August 1999. He is survived and will be missed by his wife June Hamilton, his four children Bill Hamilton of Napa, Doug Hamilton of Santa Barbara, Cyndy Hardy of Portland, Kim Hamilton of Piedmont, and their mother, Barbara Bellamy of San Rafael. There are nine grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. The family will hold a private memorial. In lieu of flowers, donations to charity may be made c/o the Hamilton Family Fund, a component fund of the Community Foundation of the Napa Valley. Please make checks payable to "Community Foundation Napa Valley--Hamilton" and mail to: Community Foundation, 433 Soscol Avenue, Suite B-151, Napa, CA. 94559.