Gayle Ossman Lee passed away Friday, January 14, 2022, surrounded by her family. She was 86 years old. During her life, Gayle was many things – a wife, mother, friend, an artist, student of nature, a passionate flower gardener, but foremost she was a person who continually sought meaning and harmony throughout her life.

Gayle had a life-long passion for creating fine art. She was trained early in life by her mother, she attended Cazenovia College in New York, earned a bachelor’s degree from Florida State University, and received a Master’s in Fine Arts from Catholic University in Washington DC, and she continued a lifetime of learning in her own studio and through institutions such as The Corcoran School for the Arts, the National Portrait Gallery, and in many seminars and retreats, including a sabbatical to study classical watercolor brush techniques in Beijing, China. During the course of her life, she lived in New Jersey; New York City; Carmel, California; Madrid, Spain; The Republic of Panama; Washington DC; and Tampa, Florida where she made many friends that she valued deeply all her life.

Gayle carried with her a fascination for the mystery of things simple and complex, a deep love of nature; the trees, birds, all the animals that visited her garden: everything that was full of life — but especially she had a love for flowers which was the focus of her work as an artist through much of her life. During her lifetime she pursued an interest in traditional Eastern thought and philosophy, Gayle believed more in the continuum of all things, and the ever recurring cycles of life — and so does not leave behind her loving husband Dennis Lee, or her children Laura, Dennis, Bill, and David, her grandchildren whom she loved so deeply, her many friends made around the world, or her extended family, but rather expected to see them all again, though in some other way or form.

On Sunday, Jan 30th, at 1:00 PM, 909 E Chelsea Street, Gayle’s life will be celebrated with her family and friends at her home in Tampa, Florida, surrounded by her garden and the works of art she created throughout her life.