Lee B. Greenwood
Lee B. Greenwood passed away on April 23, 2022, at the age of 73. She
was a resident of Swarthmore, PA. Loving daughter of the late William and Margaret (nee Schaff) Broadley. Dear sister of the late Chris Broadley, Mark (Margie) Broadley, and Bel (Mike) Broadley. Beloved wife to Rick Greenwood. Cherished mother of Emily (the late John) Ego and Josephine (Chris) Oldham. Much loved Grandmother to Eleanor, Samantha, Florence, and Bosworth. Held dear by her nieces and nephews.
Lee loved to tell stories of her time spent with her father learning how to fly. Throughout high school (Lansdowne HS 1965) she worked in the airfield office and was compensated with flying lessons. Her aviation career was cut short after a harrowing experience while flying solo. The carburetor on the Piper Cub was malfunctioning so throttling back the engine would cut it out. Her only option was to ascend until she was positioned well and glided her plane back to land. Flying gave Lee a true sense of adventure that she carried through her life.
It was also in high school that Lee settled on Swarthmore as the place that she wanted to live when she grew up. At that time Swarthmore College students held social dances for the wider community. Lee loved to dance, and these dances were good fun in her teenage years. Swarthmore was a known entity to Lee as her cousin’s family were, and still are, Swarthmoreans. So, after college and a brief residence in Devon, Lee and Rick found their forever home in Swarthmore.
Lee chose to become a real estate agent in the early eighties. She found great purpose in helping people find homes they would love. She tirelessly
built her network and knowledge of the business. Her dedication was acknowledged in 1998 when she
served as President of the Delaware Valley Realtors Association (Tri-County Suburban Realtors). She was forever grateful for the friends she gained through her professional career, she loved Swarthmore and being a part of building the community through her work.
Art in a variety of mediums, always had a place in Lee’s heart. At the Player’s Club Lee loved to putter around in the props department cobbling together the ingredients for life sized cows, shape shifting witches, and kid sized papier mâché bird helmets. When she wasn’t backstage Lee coordinated the volunteers who collected tickets and enjoyed the perks of great seats for the shows. She volunteered her time at the Swarthmore Swim Club and with the Swarthmore Recreation Association so that her daughters could attend the programs these Swarthmore institutions offered. She studied pottery with Ricky Wolfe and watercolor at the CAC. Every space in Lee’s Swarthmore home holds evidence of her productivity in artistic ventures.
Lee was always looking for ways to expand her daughters’ horizons. In the eighties her neighbors hosted a teenager from Denmark. Lee invited Lars to dinner, and he became a fixture in our household. He was a participant in the Rotary International Youth
Exchange Program. She recognized the strengths of this program and encouraged her daughters to
g g g g of this program and encouraged her daughters to pursue taking a year off before college to participate.
The exchange involved opening one’s own home to a foreign teenager while your teenage child was abroad. Our family grew bigger with the addition of teens from Sweden (Hakan), Brazil (Glauco), and Argentina (Marcela). Lee and Rick got to visit Denmark and Spain while Emily and Josephine were exchange students in those respective countries. Lee and Rick had an especially strong relationship with Hakan who hosted them for two trips: one to Europe to attend his wedding and one to South Africa.
We will hold her forever in our hearts. Please join us on June 4th at 2pm to share memories of Lee at the Swarthmore Friends Meeting House, 12 Whittier Place, Swarthmore PA 19081.