Alice Lee, sister of author Harper Lee, like 'Atticus Finch in a skirt'

Alice Lee, 99, still works eight hours a day at the Monroeville law office started by her father, A.C. Lee, considered the model for Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the afternoons, Miss Alice, as she is known around town, visits with her sister, the reclusive author Nelle Harper Lee. Miss Alice handles her younger sister's legal affairs, as she has done since the 1960 publication of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel catapulted Harper Lee to fame.

MONROEVILLE, Alabama — Eight in the morning finds attorney Alice Lee sitting at her cluttered law office desk carefully slicing open envelopes addressed to one of her clients.
There is little remarkable about the scene, unless you know that Lee is 99 years old — still practicing in the law firm started by her father nearly a century ago — and that her client is also her younger sister, Nelle Harper Lee, the reclusive author of “To Kill a Mockingbird.”
The Lee family law office occupies the upper floor of a Monroeville bank building. Downstairs in the bank vault is the original manuscript of one of the most celebrated novels in history.
While Nelle has long shunned attention, Miss Alice, as she is known to everyone in Monroeville, is currently enjoying the spotlight in her role in the new documentary, “Hey Boo,” premiering tonight at the Crescent Theater on Dauphin Street. In the film, Miss Alice explains that her sister retreated from public life in the 1960s because “as time went on, she said reporters began taking too many liberties with what she said.”
Alice Harper a gatekeeper between public and her famous sister

Since that time, Miss Alice has served as something of a gatekeeper, keeping a well-meaning public at bay, a job that requires no less attention on the 50th anniversary of “Mockingbird’s” publication than it did when the book first came out. That the sisters have always been close is apparent in both the documentary and in conversation with those who know the family. “Mockingbird” is dedicated to Alice, “in consideration of Love and Affection.”
The sisters spend every afternoon together. Nelle’s health has deteriorated after a stroke left her partially paralyzed and confined to a wheelchair. Both women are almost completely deaf, and Nelle has lost about 95 percent of her vision, according to her sister, but is able to read with the aid of a powerful magnifying machine.
“Everybody who comes to Monroeville wants to visit with Nelle, and she’s not up to that. So we have to cut it off and say she’s not available. She sees her good friends and her family,” Miss Alice said.
Thomas Lane Butts, pastor emeritus at Monroeville United Methodist Church, has served as pastor to the Lee clan for decades. He visits with the author often, and described her as happy and still sharp. He said her memory is shaky when it comes to recent events, but in full focus when she thinks of the past. He said she particularly likes to sing “the old songs” and tell stories. He said she has mellowed in her later years, and has become less guarded, emotionally.
“She said, ‘I wrote one book, and I have made a living off of it. I had a stroke, but on my left side, not my right side. I have friends who love me and take care of me. I’m one of the luckiest people in the world,’” Butts said, relating a recent conversation.
He also said she paid no attention to the fanfare surrounding the 50th anniversary of her book’s publication. “I asked her if she was going up to the celebration and she said, ‘expletive no,’” Butts recounted.

Alice Lee, 99, still works eight hours a day at the Monroeville law office started by her father, A.C. Lee, considered the model for Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. In the afternoons, Miss Alice, as she is known around town, visits with her sister, the reclusive author Nelle Harper Lee. Miss Alice handles her younger sister's legal affairs, as she has done since the 1960 publication of the Pulitzer Prize winning novel catapulted Harper Lee to fame.

Speaking Thursday morning in her office, Miss Alice said her sister has always felt like people paid far too much attention to both the novel and its author. Asked why her sister has never published a memoir or been interviewed for a biography, Miss Alice said, “Nelle Harper always said she hoped nobody would write a biography of her while she lived. She didn’t think people should be written about in their lifetimes.That was for the future. Well, that attitude carried over to everything.”
The same logic applies to placing a historical marker on South Alabama Street in Monroeville to mark the location of the home in which the Lees grew up — something the author has never allowed. The Lee family lived next door to Truman Capote for many years, and Capote was the model for Dill, a character in “Mockingbird.” The home Capote lived in is long gone, though the remnants of the foundation are marked with a historical sign, noting that much of his childhood was spent at the location. No such marker stands where the Lee house once stood. In its place is Mel’s Dairy Dream restaurant.
Miss Alice says the famous friendship between Capote and her sister dissolved over time.
“Truman became very jealous because Nelle Harper got a Pulitzer and he did not,” she explains in the documentary. The film paints an unflattering portrait of Capote in his later years, showing images of the author with Andy Warhol during a period of drug-fueled hedonism at New York’s Studio 54. “It was Truman going away from her.”
'Miss Alice is Atticus Finch in a skirt'
As a woman who began practicing law in Alabama before World War II, Miss Alice is a true rarity, and a trailblazer.
“I would consider I’ve had a good life. A good life to me is one that has been happy, one that has been productive. Things I have done have been good for other people. I’ve tried to be a good citizen in my community,” Miss Alice said.
The Rev. Butts laughed when told of the elder Lee’s assessment of herself.
“The thing about Miss Alice, she will always do the right thing in any situation. Even if the right thing is hard,” Butts said. “Miss Alice is Atticus Finch in a skirt.”
Miss Alice said she couldn’t identify any special secret to her longevity. She said she sleeps well, lives “day by day,” and doesn’t “do anything to ‘bring on dying.’” In an hour of conversation, she mentioned four books she is reading, including dense histories and recently published novels.
“When I go to bed at night, I have different little patterns that make me go to sleep. The first one, I go through the list of presidents. If I’m not asleep by the time I get to Obama, I go through the list of the 67 counties of Alabama,” Miss Alice said. “It’s fun, and it keeps my mind working.”
She said the greatest change she has seen in her lifetime is the revolution in communication. “My father thought he lived through the most incredible time in history. He thought mass transportation had changed the world. He was fascinated by passenger trains. I guess we all think we are living through the greatest changes,” Miss Alice said.
She has no special plans for her 100th birthday, coming in September. She’ll be at work, she said, just like always.
“I’m too busy to worry about years. I’m not going to celebrate,” Miss Alice said. “I’ve told everybody I don’t want a party, but that doesn’t mean it won’t happen. I’d prefer it just be another day.”