The Week in Meep (and Stu): Give Blood! and A Celebration of Dixie Lee (Stu's Mother)
Plus a little extra art at the end
Continuing on the saga of Stu, from Saturday, August 3 to Saturday, August 10, we were at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center 6 out of those 8 days. Yay.
And two of those days involved Stu getting a blood transfusion. His fourth and fifth in 3 weeks.
So once again I exhort people to consider donating blood:
That was me at the Elmsford Blood Center, I believe (or maybe Fishkill) for the New York Blood Center, which handles all the blood donations in our area. That was in 2021.
You see me sporting the nifty blood-type socks as I was donating plasma that time (I’m AB+). NYBC has been giving out socks instead of t-shirts as the volunteer gifts lately, and I much prefer the socks. For one, they don’t have to carry so many different sizes.
I do like wearing those socks to blood donation (I do have other ones from NYBC, but those are the niftiest).
Stu is doing okay-ish, but his sixth transfusion is already scheduled.
I can see why Type O blood donors are urgently needed for NYBC.
In Memory of Dixie Lee, Stu’s Mom
Stu’s mother died on August 1.
Here’s her obituary: Dixie Gray Lee
Dixie Gray Lee, beloved mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, peacefully passed away on August 1st, 2024, surrounded by her loving daughters. Born in Sampson County, North Carolina, she was the daughter of James Lloyd Lee and Luberta Bass Lee. Dixie, one of eleven siblings, held family ties close to her heart. She was preceded in death by her parents and nine of her siblings.
In her youth, the U.S. Government recognized Dixie’s exceptional abilities during her senior year of high school. She took their test and was recruited by the CIA. Her dedication and outstanding work earned her a letter of commendation from President John F. Kennedy.
After her service with the CIA, Dixie transitioned to the medical field. For thirty three years, she worked at Wake Med in the Laboratory Department, contributing to patient care. Later, she joined the Center for Disease Control, where her expertise continued to make a difference.
Dixie lived life with zest—a force to be reckoned with. She defied age, embracing each day with enthusiasm. Her faith in God, love for family, and vibrant spirit defined her. The color pink and leopard print were her signature style, reflecting her vivacity. Travel was her passion, and she explored the world both for pleasure and on missionary trips. Jerusalem held a special place in her heart, where she briefly resided.
Dixie Gray Lee leaves behind a legacy of resilience, kindness, and adventure. She is survived by her son, Stuart Grace (Mary Pat); daughters Erin Daley (Sean) and Fran Puryear (Jonathan); grandchildren Heather Grace, Joel Willis, Ryan Daley, Ian Daley, Chase Grace, Siobhan Grace, Diarmuid Grace, Jack Puryear, and Madeline Puryear; and great-grandchildren Katelyn Morin and Nathan Morin.
To honor Dixie, please join us in wearing pink or leopard print-a vibrant tribute to her zest for life.
To honor Dixie’s memory, we kindly ask that, in lieu of flowers, you consider making donations to The Catalyst Program at NC State. Your contribution will continue her legacy of impact and inspire future generations.
And remember, when you wear pink or leopard print, you’re not just wearing a pattern—you’re celebrating a life well-lived.
To do this Digitally use the link below.
Link to donation page: https://securelb.imodules.com/s/1209/give19/form.aspx?sid=1209&gid=214&pgid=7348&cid=11690&bledit=1&dids=9330&amt=0.00&appealcode=CSWGP01
Link about the program: https://sciencehouse.ncsu.edu/studentprograms/catalyst/
I want to pull out a few points that are relevant to this substack particularly.
In the obit, they mentioned she worked for the CDC. One of her jobs at Wake Med was as a phlebotomist (that is, the person who draws blood, deals with blood samples, etc.)
She worked as a seasonal worker for the CDC in her retirement from Wake Med. You know, for the flu season:
They needed people to process the samples from various samples and labs coming in from the state (North Carolina is in HHS Region 4) during surges.
Dixie used to tell me about some of the samples she was seeing (20+ years ago). These samples were used in reports as seen in FluView.
These samples and reports were used for all sorts of purposes, but in particular, they were used to develop the flu vaccine for the next flu season (along with the info being collected worldwide, similarly).
Education and Disabilities
The second part relates to her interest in and support for education. Donations to the Catalyst Program at North Carolina State University was requested:
https://sciencehouse.ncsu.edu/studentprograms/catalyst/
On Catalyst, and one of the other STEM-related programs:
My niece and nephew, children of Stu’s youngest sister, have benefited from the Catalyst program. (Also, I’m an NC State grad from one of the precursors of the College of Sciences, the College of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.)
Dixie had been supportive of her grandchildren’s educational efforts.
Oh, and I have nothing to say about her CIA connections. (I really have no idea what she did there. That was well before I was born.)
A little Escher art to go out on
And as a connection, to the STEM education, Stu, and North Carolina, how about a little Escher? The North Carolina connection is that the NC Museum of Art put together a special Escher exhibit in 2015: The Worlds of M. C. Escher: Nature, Science, and Imagination
(There is also an Escher bot on X/twitter which puts out pieces I’ve never seen before)
Here are a few:
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fa870b249-2737-4c68-9d03-691f20fd5d08_611x897.jpeg)
![](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2Fdf3e5f7c-51e8-4b82-bd22-1fe0bd6b52a3_611x586.jpeg)
Enjoy!