Jane Carew Cotton Lee, 87, a lifelong summer resident of Walpole, died on May 4, 2019 following a long illness. Born in Baltimore, Md. on Oct. 17, 1931, she was the eldest daughter of Henry Kyd Douglas and Jane Carew Reifsnyder Cotton.
She graduated from Bryn Mawr School in Baltimore in 1949 and earned a degree from Bennett College in Millbrook, N.Y. In 1954 she married John Hubner Rice Jr., and raised three sons in Baltimore.
When her marriage ended in divorce, she earned her real estate license and became a top producer for Baltimore’s Hill & Company from 1976 to 1985. From 1972 to 2006, she was vice regent for the Mount Vernon Ladies Association in Washington, D.C., where her activities included major improvements to Mount Vernon. Carew was a founding member of the Women’s Committee of the Walters Art Museum and served on the board of the Johns Hopkins Women’s Committee. In 1986, she married Robert E. Lee IV and settled in Bethesda, Md.
Carew loved her summers at Cottesbrooke, near Damariscotta. For six generations the Cotton family has lived in the Damariscotta area. She was an avid tennis player and doubles tournament winner, both in Maryland and at the Christmas Cove Improvement Association.
She is predeceased by son, Richard Carew Rice, who died in 2013.
She is survived by her husband of 34 years; sons, John Hubner Rice III and H. K. Douglas Rice; sister, Nancy Cotton Swindell; and eight grandchildren.
A memorial service was held in Baltimore on May 11.
