Vivian O. Lee
“I don’t shout or jump about,
or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
it ought to make you proud…
I am a woman, phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman, that’s me.”
Vivian Lee is a pioneer in the nursing and health-care fields. Graceful, poised confident, sharply dressed and warmly welcoming, she embodies the essence of Dr. Maya Angelou’s words.
As Lee begins to share some of her numerous accomplishments, awards and recognitions, humble appreciation for each and every one emerges.
She was the first African American: sales associate at the Bon Marchè, student admitted to the four year bachelor’s of science nursing program at the UW, to receive the Washington State School Nurse of the Year award, registered nurse hired at the VA hospital in Seattle and nurse hired by the US Public Health Service.
In addition to her many firsts, Lee was an invited guest at the White House Conference on Civil Rights, named distinguished alumni from the UW School of Nursing, established the Vivian E. Lee nursing scholarship for African American women at the University of Washington and was, most recently, selected for 2016 induction to the Washington State Nurses Association Hall of Fame.
The list goes on.
“There is always a solution to a problem. If you see a stumbling block it does not have to be a barrier,” she says at 78 years old.
This philosophy has kept her striving to make a difference in the lives of others through service work and perseverance.
Lee is quick to tell you that she simply works to embody the strength of her mother and her grandmother.
Vivian O. Lee was born in 1938 in the southeast Texas town of Spring, the youngest of five children. Her parents divorced shortly after she was born. Her mother remarried a military man and when Vivian was just 8 years old, in 1946, she, her mother and her sister boarded a ship for Japan where her stepfather was stationed. Here she discovered her love for healthcare and service.
“We were encouraged not to fraternize with the Japanese people,” Lee said. “But my mother didn’t see that as a barrier.”
Her first introduction to the world of medicine came after the Chinese entered the Korean War and left masses of American soldiers wounded and in need of immediate care.
“Suddenly our Tokyo American hospital was just flooded, rooms were jammed full of beds. My mother organized several dependents to come and help the nurses. I was there everyday,” said Lee. “That is exactly when I decided that I wanted to be a nurse and help people.”
After five years in Japan, Lee’s family was transferred to Washington state’s Fort Lewis where she started at Clover Park High School. Her father was later transferred to Ft. Lawton in Seattle and Vivian began attending Garfield High School. It was 1951 and unlike Japan, where she was the only African American in all her classes, she discovered the realities of segregation in the American school system.
“I would walk into the cafeteria and there was a Black group here, White group here and an Asian group there,” she said. “Back then the school was still about 49 percent students of color, which was really big at that time.”
Lee eventually found her footing and got involved with softball, volleyball and the foreign language club. She also made some lifelong friends along the way. True to her way, Lee was one of two Black students, and the only young woman, to have qualified for honors society all four years in high school.
She remained committed to her dream of nursing when she applied to the University of Washington. She was among the first applicants to a new program that would graduate nursing students in four calendar years instead of the traditional five.
“In three years we could take the RN test,” said. Lee. “I took the test and passed so that I could work as a RN during my senior year.”
After a short time at Virginia Mason, Lee applied to be the first African American nurse at the Seattle VA Hospital. Her mother also worked at the VA as an executive secretary and encouraged Lee to apply.
“If they had not accepted me, my mother was ready to go to war for me,” Lee said. “Just as she had for many other causes in the community.”
Lee said although she was the first Black nurse, she was always treated with respect. But when she and her husband, Owen Lee, went to buy a home in the Newport Hills neighborhood of Bellevue, the experience was different.
The couple arrived at a real estate agency ready to pay cash for the home they had found. As they waited, they listened in on a conversation with a White couple who apparently were unable to pay the full down payment. The relator was assuring them that they could make payments toward their down payment. This was good news for the Lee’s because they had cash for the house. But the story was much different when it was their turn.
“Well you know there are no Blacks over here, he said,” according to Mrs. Lee. “You know I sold to an Asian couple once and they got a divorce.”
They refused to sell Mr. and Mrs. Lee the house.
This was one of several instances of racism and discrimination Lee had to endure as she accomplished her dreams. How did she find it in her power to forgive those who had mistreated her?
“I had no time to live in the past,” she said simply.
Vivian Lee, right, with the first African American woman Surgeon General Dr. Joycelyn Elders in 1994.
And how true that has been for Lee, a pioneer in so many aspects of the nursing and health care industry, including being implemented as the Program Management Officer of the federal Title X program overseen by the UW Public Health Service. Her role included managing federal healthcare programs throughout Washington, Oregon, Alaska and Idaho.
“She was a true pioneer and made government work for the people—low income/needy men and women who needed medical care and access to birth control,” said longtime colleague Karen Matsuda. “Vivian Lee has been a personal and professional role model for many, many individuals around the nation.”
Lee went on to create the Title X Nurse Practitioner Training Program to help nurse practitioners in her region get additional training so they stayed competitive in the changing field of medicine. She also conducted the first household survey on the reproductive health of Southeast Asian refugee women, the largest U.S. household survey of Asian women that had ever been done.
“Very few people in this world have the unique qualities that Vivian Lee has,” said her longtime friend and colleague Alan Sugiyama. “She is compassionate, thoughtful, intelligent, committed and has the energy and spirit to make good things happen.”
As Lee prepares for her latest show of recognition — induction into the Washington State Nurses Association Hall of Fame — she remains as committed as ever to serving others. She is an avid member and supporter of her church and keeps a busy schedule volunteering for issues that she cares about.
“At this stage in my life I just want to give back to others,” Lee said. “I want to help other young people make a difference in the world. That’s all it has ever been about for me.”
It’s in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
‘Cause I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That’s me.
That is Vivan O. Lee
Originally published in The Seattle Medium