* Ada Beth Lee; Chorus Co-Founder

A memorial service will be held Jan. 19 for Ada Beth Lee, a retired professional singer and co-founder of the Valley Master Chorale. She was 74.

A longtime Tarzana resident, Mrs. Lee died Dec. 14 in a Van Nuys hospital of cancer, said her daughter, Diana Lee Whitman of Fullerton.

Born in Newton, Iowa, she graduated from Drake University in Des Moines with a double major in voice and piano. She received a graduate scholarship to the American Conservatory in Chicago and began a professional singing career at WGN radio station, also in Chicago. After coming to California in 1945, she sang with the Norman Luboff Choir and the Johnny Mann Singers in Hollywood. Mrs. Lee appeared as Sister Catherine in the 1965 film “The Sound of Music” and was a free-lance studio singer for 35 years.

In 1975, she and her husband founded the Valley Master Chorale, an all-volunteer community chorus of 150 voices. She was its largest individual contributor and served as its principal fund-raiser for 16 years until illness forced her to curtail her efforts last fall. Mrs. Lee was president of the Valley Cultural Center in 1987, board member of the San Fernando Valley Cultural Foundation, and member of the Cultural Society, the Woodland Hills Women’s Club, the Society of Singers and Kappa Alpha Theta social sorority and Mu Phi Epsilon music sorority.

In addition to her daughter, Mrs. Lee is survived by a son, Tim Lee of Reseda; and three grandchildren. Her husband, Bill Lee, died in 1980.

A memorial service is scheduled for 3 p.m. Jan. 19 at the Woodland Hills Community Church, 21338 Dumetz Road. Donations can be made to the Bill and Ada Beth Lee Fund in care of the Valley Master Chorale, P.O. Box 8347, Northridge 91327.