She graduated from Ward Belmont and attended the University of Alabama. On June 6, 1945, Lei was  married at West Point, New York, to Robert W. Fye and embarked on a 34-year career as a loving and much-loved military homemate. She raised three children, Carolyn, Elizabeth, and Bruce (deceased), despite the rigors of over 25 moves around the country and Germany. Two grandchildren, Carolyn's daughter, Amy, and Bruce's daughter, Madison, and one great-grandchild, Amy's daughter, Zara Lei, also survive her.

With Robert's increases in rank, Lei assumed ever-increasing social and community responsibilities and carried them off with distinction, always admired and much liked. With Robert's retirement in 1979, they moved to Phoenix and started a new life. She joined the Assistance League, involving herself in their many humanitarian activities. She took up golf and headed the Arizona Country Club's nine-hole group. She always enjoyed traveling, and they continued to do that, visiting new and old places in this country and around the world. Lei made a lasting impression on all who came to know her and she will be sorely missed by everyone fortunate enough to have called her a friend. She will be interred at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington, DC.