BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Jessica Lee was, quite simply, special.<\/p>\n
Extraordinarily talented. Confident. Fiercely loyal. Hers was a toolbox rattling with unending sensitivity and incomparable skills.<\/p>\n
The longtime, Emmy Award-winning graphics designer for PBS39 and Lehigh Valley Public Media died on Thursday from cancer at age 67 while in hospice care at home in her native Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
Although Lee worked on the other side of the camera and may not have been known to many PBS39 viewers, they are certainly aware of her sterling work given the 45-plus years of creating colorful and imaginative graphics that accompanied so many of the network\u2019s programming such as Community Conversations, “Living in the Lehigh Valley” and “Scholastic Scrimmage” \u2014 right down to the current PBS39 logo itself and its various iterations throughout the years.<\/p>\n
In memory of PBS39’s late Jessica Lee<\/p>\n
\u201cProfessionally, Jess was way more than a graphics designer \u2014 she was a partner,\u201d said Javier Diaz, director of video and broadcast content for PBS39.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I would direct shows, Jess was my right hand. She was very creative. She would play graphics live, but also told me when things didn\u2019t look right or were not colored correctly. She had such a great eye.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe could also be very blunt, which I greatly appreciated because she was all about making the product better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lee mastered every aspect of the media production industry, from creating sets, to shooting photos, and making the seamless transition from analog to digital.<\/p>\n
\u201cThrough the 1980s and 90s, and even when she wasn\u2019t physically building sets anymore, if we were building a set for a new show, I had Jess right there with me,\u201d Diaz said.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe had that great eye for design and camera angles.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a terrific partner who created great programming for the Lehigh Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Javier Diaz, director of video and broadcast content for PBS39, on Jessica Lee<\/p>\n
Diaz, who first met Lee when he was in kindergarten and his mother was employed at PBS39, credited Lee with his immense knowledge of graphics design.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverything I know about broadcast graphics I attribute to Jess,\u201d he said. \u201cToday, when my team makes graphics, I immediately think, \u2018What would Jess think of this?\u2019<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was a terrific partner that created great programming for the Lehigh Valley.\u201d<\/p>\n
Deep Bethlehem roots<\/p>\n
Born in Bethlehem, Lee was a graduate of Liberty High School, Class of 1976, where she was a proud member of its nationally renowned Grenadier band, playing the euphonium, a brass instrument.<\/p>\n
She also was a member of the school’s alumni band.<\/p>\n
Lee received a bachelor of fine arts degree in communications design at Kutztown University in 1980, and shortly after was hired at PBS39 when its headquarters was still on South Mountain.<\/p>\n
Among the crowning achievements of Lee\u2019s long and distinguished career in television was her being honored in 2021 by the Silver Circle Society of the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences, or NATAS.<\/p>\n
The honor recognizes television professionals with at least 25 years of significant contributions to the industry, service and community, with induction signifying deep respect and impact.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe deserved that honor,\u201d Diaz said. \u201cThere wasn\u2019t anything in television she couldn\u2019t do exceptionally well.\u201d<\/p>\n
The inner drive Lee possessed was gifted to her by her mother, Esther M. Lee, a veteran leader of the civil rights movement in Bethlehem.<\/p>\n
The elder Lee, 92, took prejudice head on and won. Born in Bethlehem, this great-granddaughter of a slave in 1971 became the first African American woman elected to the Bethlehem School Board.<\/p>\n
She would become the president of the Bethlehem chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, or NAACP.<\/p>\n
\u201cChildren get a glimpse of what we as parents are doing for ourselves and our children,\u201d Lee said via phone on Friday morning.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was always starting something and Jess was right there by my side. She wasn\u2019t always just watching; she helped me develop many things. She understood my progressiveness.<\/p>\n
\u201cJess showed so much promise in her early years. She also wanted to achieve \u2014 and she did.\u201d<\/p>\n
Saying goodbye<\/p>\n
Lee ignored her grief for a moment, a lilt in her voice kidnapping her sadness.<\/p>\n
She recalled her daughter becoming a ballerina at age 6 with the Bethlehem Conservatory of Music.<\/p>\n
A mother\u2019s sadness returned while discussing her daughter\u2019s piano playing.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe would play for me sometimes, even now,\u201d she said. \u201cI will miss that.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wednesday evening, a mother experiencing her worst nightmare, sat beside her dying daughter in the quiet of her bedroom.<\/p>\n
This unnatural order of life \u2014 children dying before parents \u2014 pained Lee\u2019s heart.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe was unable to express herself at the end,\u201d Lee said. \u201cI was having a conversation with her, telling her how much I loved her. She couldn\u2019t respond.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told her that everybody loved her, that I loved her. I know she heard me. I have to believe that. I have to.<\/p>\n
\u201cShe\u2019s at peace now. But it doesn\u2019t make it any easier. As adults, we all know we\u2019re going to die. But it wasn\u2019t supposed to happen this way.\u201d<\/p>\n
A memorial service for Jessica Lee is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Jan. 16, at Cathedral Church of the Nativity, Third and Wyandotte streets, Bethlehem.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BETHLEHEM, Pa. \u2014 Jessica Lee was, quite simply, special. Extraordinarily talented. Confident. Fiercely loyal. Hers was a toolbox…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":87413,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[153,155,43579,154,43580,43582,43586,43584,43583,43585,43587,43581,38384],"class_list":{"0":"post-87412","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-bethlehem","8":"tag-bethlehem","9":"tag-bethlehem-headlines","10":"tag-bethlehem-liberty-hs","11":"tag-bethlehem-news","12":"tag-esther-m-lee","13":"tag-javier-diaz","14":"tag-jessica-lee","15":"tag-jessica-lee-death","16":"tag-jessica-lee-lehigh-valley-public-media","17":"tag-jessica-lee-obituary","18":"tag-kutztown-university-graduate-pbs","19":"tag-naacp-bethlehem","20":"tag-pbs39"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=87412"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/87412\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/87413"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=87412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=87412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=87412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}