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According to the article linked below,I wish we could learn more about Ida and her family life within the Nation. Knowing which clan she belongs to would be helpful. A poster above mentioned Mary Begay. Did the two know each other? What about that Inn Mary was last seen at? Was Ida ever there? The odds that she was is pretty good. Someone also mentioned the fact that Ida Mae Lee is a common name for that area. The Navajo Nation tends to use the same names a lot.
This is a good find.According to the article linked below,
"Ida Mae Lee (surname alternatively listed as “Costello”), a 25-year-old Navajo woman from the To’aheedliinii Clan, disappeared in the 1950's. She was last seen working at a Harvey Hotel in Coconino County, Arizona, most likely at the El Tovar Lodge where her husband, Preston Lee Monongye (surname alternatively spelled “Monongya” and also known as “Preston James Lee”), worked as a cook."
"Ida and Preston met on a Hopi Reservation in Polacca in the 1940’s and were married on September 26, 1950. Preston was born to a Mexican father and a Californian Mission Indian mother, but was raised by a Hopi man named David Monongye(a) in the village of Hotevilla. Ida’s clanspeople reportedly shunned her for marrying outside of the community, so when the two were wed they moved to the Grand Canyon area."
It seems very likely that the missing year was really 1955 and NOT 1956.
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NOTE: the link is unstable- try copying the text into a word file to read the article
I colorized that photo online. It doesn't look like it provides any new clues. The NAMUS photo does appear to have been cropped from its original photo. And the pink turned gray.Seeing Ida Mae Lee living…maybe
I found this nearly full length photograph of her on NAMUS. It's a black and white photo, so why is there a pink triangle in the background?
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This is a good find.
Preston was born on September 6, 1927, in Los Angeles, California. He was adopted at age 7 by Nora Nasnimba Monongye and David Monongya. Also, Ancestry.com shows Preston used his Preston James Lee name for voting, so that's probably his legal birth name before he was adopted. Their marriage certificate shows their legal names at marriage. Source: Ancestry.com.According to the article linked below,
"Ida Mae Lee (surname alternatively listed as “Costello”), a 25-year-old Navajo woman from the To’aheedliinii Clan, disappeared in the 1950's. She was last seen working at a Harvey Hotel in Coconino County, Arizona, most likely at the El Tovar Lodge where her husband, Preston Lee Monongye (surname alternatively spelled “Monongya” and also known as “Preston James Lee”), worked as a cook."
"Ida and Preston met on a Hopi Reservation in Polacca in the 1940’s and were married on September 26, 1950. Preston was born to a Mexican father and a Californian Mission Indian mother, but was raised by a Hopi man named David Monongye(a) in the village of Hotevilla. Ida’s clanspeople reportedly shunned her for marrying outside of the community, so when the two were wed they moved to the Grand Canyon area."
It seems very likely that the missing year was really 1955 and NOT 1956.
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NOTE: the link is unstable- try copying the text into a word file to read the article