Lee Diane died at 2:30p.m. Thursday, July 19, 2001 at Champaign County Nursing Home in Urbana, Illinois.

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Lee was a singer born in Brooklyn, New York on May 6, 1921. She got her start as a child performer in New York, performing in Vaudeville shows, known as "Little Miss Muffet" from age 6 to age 12. In her twenties, she performed under the stage name "Lee Leslie" and was the lead singer with the Ike Carpenter Jazz Band in New York, where she met her husband, Dick Pettit. Once married, the couple moved to the San Fernando Valley, a suburb of Los Angeles, to start a family.

After her performing career ended, she continued working in the entertainment industry as a secretary at Universal Studios in Studio City, California.

In 1990, Lee moved to Urbana, Il to be closer to her daughters, and lived there until her passing in 2001.

She is survived by her daughters Elsie Pettit and Lisa (Keith) Morgan, and grand-daughter Lisa (Josh) DeRosa.

Private family services will be held, with Renner-Wikoff Chapel in Urbana handling arrangements.