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Norman Lee was a Stratfordian all his life




NORMAN was born on 11th June 1941 to Cecil and Mary Lee, local hauliers, in Stratford and christened Charles Norman James.

He was brought up in Broad Street, 3 doors from the school which he attended going from there to Hugh Clopton School.

Norman Lee was a Stratfordian all his life.

Norman Lee with, from left, his wife Dianne, his mother Mary and sister Rachel.
Norman Lee with, from left, his wife Dianne, his mother Mary and sister Rachel.

At the age of 15 he joined Automotive Products (Lockheed) in Leamington Spa as an apprentice engineer.

His father died early and Norman continued his apprenticeship by day and helped his mother with the business in the evenings.

He has a sister, Rachel, who is 13 years his junior but despite the age gap he remained close to her and her family.

Norman worked for many years at AP but in his 30s he went to Astwood Bank to run two companies producing springs and pressings. After a few years the owner decided to retire and sell up. He then formed his own company Spring and Presstech providing sales and marketing to the industry. He later bought into Zero Clips.

He was very knowledgeable and always popular being genuinely interested in people and was therefore very successful in all his business dealings. Norman was the kind of man people liked dealing with as he was totally honest and trustworthy.

In 1966 he met Dianne in a Chinese restaurant in Leamington and they have been together ever since. It took them 16 years to get around to marriage but finally achieved that in 1982 honeymooning in America in an RV with a couple they met on a ski trip to Austria and barely knew. That was the start of a lasting friendship and resulted in them building a house in Florida on a Country Club in 1999 just down the road from their American friends.

Norman loved all sports and had tried most but his favourites were mountain climbing, golfing and skiing. He had skied all the top resorts in Europe, his favourite being St. Anton in Austria and also in many American resorts.

He was a member of Welcombe Golf Club since the 80s and having the house built on a golf course in Florida most holidays were spent there playing 3 or 4 times a week. Norman and Di also found time to tour a lot of America with their friends each time they went over there.

He joined his mother, now Mary Morgan, in all Stratford affairs supporting every new mayor, irrespective of political affiliation and were well known to all the councillors. They were both Stratfordians through and through.

Mary supported a local charity, Escape Arts, and on her death in 2018 at the age of 100 Norman and Di took up her mantle.

Between them Norman and his mother knew just about everyone worth knowing in Stratford and whenever in town spent time keeping in touch.

He was diagnosed late in 2022 with prostate cancer by which time it had metastasized into his pelvis and lower ribs.

The NHS were wonderful and he was soon into chemotherapy, having metal rods inserted in each femur to prevent bones breaking. He initially underwent ten sessions at 3 weekly intervals.

Anyone knowing Norman will know that he was proud of his dark full head of hair (courtesy of Mary) so he endured the ice cap during treatment. Many cancer patients couldn’t tolerate it but Norm just said it was like skiing without a hat.

After a 3 month stay in Florida at the end of 2023, tests showed that the cancer was spreading and he received two sessions of radiation treatment at a clinic in Windsor which was unsuccessful. Two further chemo sessions also proved ineffective.

He lived a life to the full and never stopped planning for the future. He remained a lovely, caring, generous and cheerful man to the end and will be sadly missed by all who knew him.




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