Tammye Lee holds the diploma she received from Northwest University in Kirkland, Wash., after getting her Bachelor of Arts degree in Ministry Leadership, magna cum laude. (Courtesy photo)
By Gaye Bunderson
Everyone in life is on a journey. Tammye Lee found herself on a long journey to discover how she was called to serve the Lord.
Her story starts in Southern California, where she was born 62 years ago. “We grew up in church,” she said, “and as my understanding of God grew, I made a commitment to Him. On October 30, 1978, when I was 15, I became very aware and conscious that I needed to make that commitment.”
Later, at age 18, she felt a temptation to pull away from the Lord; but she persevered, remained steadfast in faith, and began to seek His will. She prayed frequently wherever she was and no matter what she was doing, asking the Lord: “’What do You want me to do, and where do You want me to go?’ I was seeking His direction.”
To say the answer did not come quickly nor in a flash of lightening would be an understatement. It was a long wait after spending time in Europe and in the little hub of Mountain Home, Idaho, for her to know God’s will. But she was determined to discover it.
She ended up in Mountain Home because her husband was in the U.S. Air Force. During his career, the couple spent four years in England and six in Germany. Their family grew to include a daughter and son; and they now have three grandchildren.
Lee continued praying, even as the years clicked by, and eventually got a stirring of an answer: “I felt called to the ministry.”
Ministry can be a broad field, so she persevered to understand her calling in more detail. Back in Idaho, she studied to become a certified nurse’s assistant, or CNA. She worked with various home health services but felt a desire to work with people in their homes.
She started to think about pursuing a chaplaincy. Lee stated that in 2000, the Lord told her that chaplaincy could be anywhere, including on the air base – or in people’s homes. “I said ‘yes’ to that, not really knowing where I was going.”
Lee attends The Rock Church in Mountain Home, and a former pastor’s wife there, Reba Bailey, had a spiritual sense for people and what they were to do and where. Bailey suggested Lee attend Northwest University of Kirkland, Wash., online. Lee felt the Lord said to her, “’Do this and see what doors open’.” NU is a Christian college, with a full College of Ministry.
“The university was going to teach me what I needed to become a minister,” Lee said.
At one point, Lee was hired as a CNA at Horizon Home Health & Hospice in Mountain Home. Then Bailey was also hired at HHH&H and became Lee’s boss. As Lee explained it: “She remembered my feeling of being called to chaplaincy. She did not change the rules but made a way for me to be able to serve as a chaplain while going to school. She helped to facilitate a way of fulfilling my call without changing any HHH&H rules.
“I got my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2020. It took me six years of online schooling, yet I was able to serve as a chaplain because of being in school. I became a Licensed Minister in June 2019. Once again, I needed the classes before I would be able to take the test and be interviewed to become a minister.”
She’s served as a chaplain for many years at Horizon Home Health & Hospice. (Chaplains are religious professionals in various settings, including hospitals and homes, rather than a religious institution such as a church. Today, Lee stated, hospitals and hospices require a master’s degree. “The educational requirements are getting stricter.”)
Lee said that finally getting to her position at HHH&H was a long journey of prayers and opportunities to learn how to do the work she was destined for. At one point, she spent a year and a half back home in California, taking care of her mother. “I encourage people to be with their families.” So she herself went to provide caregiving for her own mom. “She had been very independent but lost her hearing and eyesight. She died at the age of 93. I was rehired with Horizon Hospice after caring for my mother and returning to Idaho.”
She refers to her current work as an aspiration fulfilled.
“God gives you a dream and you kind of pursue it; but there is a waiting time. You wait patiently, but you’re not stagnant – you keep moving forward.” She recalled Abraham and Sarah’s long wait for a son.
What qualities make Lee suited for her calling, does she feel?
“I think God works with you from the beginning [in your youth and throughout the years]. I grew up in a desert somewhat isolated; and even as a youngster, when someone new moved into the area, I’d go knock on their door, and say ‘Hi, I’m your neighbor!’”
She’s fluent in the art of hospitality and is comfortable dealing with people, including elderly people.
“I have a caring attitude and good listening skills. Also, I don’t just go into a home with spiritual awareness but also awareness of people’s physical needs – and there’s often many physical needs.”
She conceded her hospice chaplaincy can be difficult work but said, “When you’ve been called, you’ve also been gifted. This work fulfills something in me.”
She can get as much out of it as she gives to others.
But it can feel burdensome at times.
“When you see a lot of struggle, it does affect you, and you can’t always meet someone’s needs. I don’t go in to pursue my beliefs; I ask, ‘Are they okay where they’re at?’”
Is there some unfulfilled need in the patient? Occasionally, people in hospice may not be letting go of something in their past, giving them a feeling of unfinished business, she has discovered.
“Is there some unforgiveness in them, someone they’re not at peace with? Do they feel they need to be forgiven, or is there someone they need to forgive? I might ask, ‘Are you at peace with your Creator?’ I want them to find that peace before they go. I give them tools; they have to make the decisions. I have to honor them as people and go in with a servant’s heart.”
Is she able to depend on others if she needs a listening ear: pastors, co-workers, friends, family?
“All of the above,” she said, then stating with a laugh, “or I veg out on a TV show. The Lord helps me; I pick up my Word or sing a song.”
She also gets solace from her co-workers at Horizon Home Health & Hospice and said, “I support them and they are supportive of me. We are very attached to one another. They support your dreams, and they encourage you.”
What about family? Her grown children stay in touch but live elsewhere. Her husband Robert served God for many years, but when God opened a door for his wife, he said to her, “I am going to go do something.” He told her she was going to fail and left her. “God said 20 years ago ‘chaplaincy’, but I was willing to lay it down,” Lee said. She did not feel guided to lay it down, and now says of her husband, from whom she’s separated but not divorced, “Robert is in God’s hands.”
She met a woman who needed a place to live and the two are now housemates. “She’s like a sister and prays with me.”
She’s worked with hospice patients in their 20s and, most recently, worked with a male patient nearing 101.
There exists no official code of conduct for hospice chaplains. Nonetheless, Lee said, “If you work for a hospital or an agency, there is a dress code, a behavior code, you respect the wishes of the patient, and you respect their beliefs.”
If people make requests of her, she stated, “You sometimes have to be creative.”
One man was unable to get up, walk, and go anywhere but requested a baptism by water. So she and others brainstormed options and Lee felt the Lord was telling them, “Use a blue sheet.” They did, and the man had his symbolic baptism.
When visiting a hospice patient in the home, she may bring up the topic of visitations, if the patient is not uncomfortable with that. She explained she does that so that they are not afraid, nor are their family or other caregivers, should they begin talking about someone who has ‘visited’ them, perhaps a departed relative.
“The Bible says God sends others to minister to us; maybe it’s angels or maybe it’s loved ones. Why deny that? I want them to be in peace.”
She shared a story about someone who was dying and said, “I see Jesus; He’s on a bridge. Why is He standing on a bridge?” The conclusion was: It’s time to cross over – and to do it without fear, by doing it with Jesus.
One woman who got COVID-19 and was alone in isolation claimed her departed mother came and sat on her bed with her.
How does Lee feel about her own limited time on Planet Earth? She explained that everybody is afraid of the unknown. Even if a person has faith, he or she is venturing into something unfamiliar, an unknown place that has yet to be fully experienced. Understandably, there are questions and some trepidation. She likened it to traveling somewhere you’ve never been before and know nothing about. But, she said, “We can embrace the journey.”
She stated, “It is a privilege to serve people as they approach their journey into eternity. I am honored that the Lord called me to this ministry.”
