Marjorie Lee had lived in Boulder for 82 years, when at age 90 she turned to her daughter as they drove home from a weekend in Estes Park and said, "It's so beautiful up here. Let's move to Estes Park."

That was in 2002. She had to wait another four years for her daughter, Violet Hunt, to retire and get their weekend cottage into shape to be a year-round residence. But in 2006, Mrs. Lee finally moved out of Boulder and into the mountains that she had adored since her childhood.

Mrs. Lee was never one to let age stand in the way of trying something new. In her 60s, she took up motorcycle riding. In her 70s, she began painting and collaborating with her husband to create inlaid-glass designs in furniture.

"We called her Grandma Moses," Hunt said. "She won some awards in various art shows. But she wouldn't sell her paintings. She would put them on display but wouldn't sell them. I have about 67 of them now. She was prolific."

Mrs. Lee died Jan. 16 at age 96. She remained in her home in Estes Park until the day she died.

"She was amazingly healthy the last 15 years of her life," Hunt said. "She just died of old age."

Mrs. Lee was born June 23, 1912, in Athol, Kan., to Bruce and Lelia Slade Griffing. When her father died during the Spanish flu epidemic in 1919, her mother packed up young Marjorie and her brother, Glenn, and the three set off for a new life in Colorado.

"It was unusual for a woman of that generation to just take her children and move. That was gutsy," Hunt said. "But she made a success of it. And my mother had that same streak of independence."

They arrived in Boulder in 1920. Mrs. Lee graduated from State Preparatory School, the predecessor of Boulder High School, in 1931. Soon after, she married Thomas Lee, whose family had been pioneers and silver miners. "Because my father had a big family here, and was employed here, she just never thought about leaving," Hunt said.

As a young woman, Mrs. Lee struggled with health problems. As a girl, she was diagnosed with St. Vitus Dance, a disabling condition associated with rheumatic fever. She became bedridden for long periods with the condition four different times in her life.

"But she was always able to work through it, survive it and become stronger and stronger," her daughter said. "She was a brave woman."

For most of her 55-year marriage, Mrs. Lee was a homemaker, raising two daughters. But for a time she worked as a keypunch operator. She eventually took a job as a book buyer for the University of Colorado bookstore, a job she held for 13 years.

Hunt has written a book, as yet unpublished, chronicling her and her mother's life in early- to mid-20th century Boulder. "It's been edited and reviewed, and the reviewer said it presents another face on Boulder that most people are not aware of," she said.

Mrs. Lee was drawn to the mountains, and she and her husband frequently took mountain getaways. "She and my father just went all over," Hunt said.

She also loved animals and was a sucker for any stray cat that needed a home. At one point she was caring for 10 cats. After moving to Estes Park, her greatest joy was to look out her window and observe elk wandering right past the house.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Lee is survived by four grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Her husband, brother and a daughter, Glenna Longwell, died earlier.