Born in Columbia, Alabama, Helen Lee grew up in Phenix City and Columbus, Georgia. Two small towns bordering the Chattahoochee River.

Her parents were the late John Thomas Lee and Annie Spann Lee.

 Brought to Phenix City as a  child,  with sister Doris, brothers Bill and Tommy.  Younger sister Linda, born in Phenix City, was  last in a family of five children.

Drawing and painting were her interests as a child. Her first "art collection" was  pictures of movie stars decorating lids of numerous cups of ice cream she and her sister consumed in their "play houses." Today, these photo lids are sought-after collector's items.

She attended Girard Elementary School and graduated from Central High in 1956. A serious auto accident the summer of 1954 prevented her from attending school in what would have been her senior year. The following year she returned to school and graduated with the class of 1956.

Graduated from Perry Business College, located in Columbus, Georgia.

Married to Robert J. Hobbs of Miami, Oklahoma, December 22, 1956.

 She lived in Europe in the 1960's. Her formal art training began in the classrooms, museums and galleries of the countries of Europe. She later lived in Hawaii and traveled extensively in the Far East.  Returning to the United States she continued studies at the University of Utah School of Fine Art.

The children of Helen Lee and Robert are Robert Joseph Hobbs, III born in Columbia, South Carolina, 1958 and Janet Lindsay Hobbs, born at Fort Benning, Georgia, 1964.

She returned to Columbus, Georgia in 1976, where she lived with her husband and children until his death in 1987.

Helen Lee is best known for her  watercolor paintings of the South.  Her work is in many private and corporate collections. Her impressionist paintings, in bold vivid watercolor, are reflections of her surroundings and life experiences.

She is currently creating a series of works of the Chattahoochee Riverwalk.