Lee's mom, Adrie Zwaal, was born in Kralingseveer, now part of Rotterdam, the Netherlands on November 17, 1922. She was raised by her grandparents, the Schoutens.

She married Piet Zwaal in 1949 and emigrated to Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada in 1959. She died in 2003 after having been diagnosed with Alzheimers.

Adrie learned to speak English from listening to the radio, reading the Regina Leader Post and watching TV. Hockey became her favourite sport and her favourite team was the Toronto Maple Leafs. In the seventies, she was a season ticket holder for the Regina Pats.

There were some Dutch words that never left her vocabulary. You went 'naar' the store, not to the store. You went 'met' your daughter, not with your daughter. And when you went for a trip to the USA, at the border you had to deal with the American 'customers'. And when you sat for a meal with her and you offered her wine, she would decline and say 'aggh, taste like medicine'.