Lee, Ada Beth Peaker – d. 1991

LEE, PEAKER, WHITMAN

Posted By: Diana Wagner
Date: 9/4/2021 at 13:19:32

Tarzana, Calif. – Ada Beth Peaker Lee, 74, of Tarzana, Calif., a retired professional singer and co-founder of the Valley master Chorale, died Dec. 14 in a Van Nuys, Calif., hospital.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m. Sunday at the Woodland Hills Community Church at 21338 Dumetz Road.
Memorials to the Bill and Ada Beth Lee Fund, in care of the Valley Master Chorale, P.O. 8347, Northridge, Calif. 91327, will be accepted.
A 1935 graduate of Newton Community High School, she had leading roles in several of the school’s dramatic and musical productions as well as receiving division I ratings in both voice and piano in state music contests.
Mrs. Lee was a graduate of Drake University in Des Moines, majoring in both voice and piano, and received a graduate scholarship to the American Conservatory in Chicago, Ill.
She began her professional singing career on radio station WGN in Chicago and after moving to California sang with both the Norman Luboff Choir and the Johnny Mann Singers in Hollywood, Calif.
The Newton native appeared as Sister Catherine in the motion picture, “The Sound of Music,” and was a freelance studio singer for 35 years.
In 1975 she and her husband, Bill, who died in 1980, founded the Valley master Chorale, an all-volunteer community chorus of 150 voices.
She was its largest individual contributor and served as its principal fund-raiser until illness forced her to curtail her efforts last autumn.
Mrs. Lee was president of the Valley Cultural Foundation and a member of the Cultural Society, the Woodland Hills Women’s Club, the Society of Singers, Kappa Alpha Theta social sorority and Mu Phi Epsilon music sorority.
She is survived by a daughter, Diana Whitman of Fullerton, Calif.; a son, Tim, of Reseda, Calif.; and three grandchildren.
Source: The Newton (IA) Daily News; Wednesday, January 15, 1992, page 2, col. 3