Harper Lee: A legend who defied labels

To the media, Harper Lee was a recluse. To her fans, Lee was a legend. To those who knew her, Nelle was a kind soul who lived exactly as she intended to.

The author best known for her classic novel “To Kill a Mockingbird,” died Friday in her hometown of Monroeville. She was 89.

As the spotlight on Lee grew, the author became known for her Boo Radley-like affinity for keeping to herself and a close group of friends. Like Scout's mysterious neighbor, Lee was misunderstood by those who didn't know her.

"The world knows Harper Lee was a brilliant writer but what many don't know is that she was an extraordinary woman of great joyfulness, humility and kindness. She lived her life the way she wanted to — in private — surrounded by books and the people who loved her," Michael Morrison, head of HarperCollins U.S. general books group, said in the statement.

Harper Lee 'loyal' to Capitol Book & News

Troy University Assistant Professor of Journalism Steve Stewart grew up in Monroeville and said the town respected Lee’s privacy and revered her for her work.

Set in the fictional town of Maycomb, “Mockingbird” addressed racial issues Lee had seen herself growing up in south Alabama before the civil rights movement.

Lee always maintained the fictional nature of the novel. Still, Monroeville residents couldn’t help but look in the mirror, Stewart said.

A story of rape, racism and the true meaning of justice, the book’s publication had a large impact on the small, rural town.

“It made Monroeville more conscious of itself and the issues raised in the book,” Stewart said. “The book did not paint a flattering picture of the community that it described that may have been similar to Monroeville.”

After the book was released, the town was abuzz with questions of who the characters were based on.

When Lee visited Stewart’s 6th grade class, she said the book was “all fiction.” Stewart said the similarities between the fictional town of Maycomb and Lee’s hometown Monroeville could not be denied.

“People were interested in the book and the characters in the book,” Stewart said. “They thought they recognized real people in the book… I think there were similarities to real circumstances and events, but her imagination was as important as the frame of reference she drew from.”

“Mockingbird” is now revered as one of the most influential novels of the past century, and Lee received both the Presidential Medal of Freedom and National Medal of the Arts for her work.

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Two years after the book’s publication, “Mockingbird” was made into an Academy Award-winning film starring Gregory Peck as Atticus Finch. Most recently, the story’s stage adaptation rights were acquired by producer Scott Rudin this month, and a Broadway production is currently in the works.

As “Mockingbird” grew in popularity, Lee withdrew from the spotlight, even more so after the controversial release of her second book “Go Set a Watchman.” Still, Stewart said the author’s friends dislike her being called a recluse.

Lee was often unavailable to the media, but she would happily speak to most anybody else.

“From what I heard and observed, when she was in town she didn’t hide herself,” Stewart said. “If you really wanted to find her, you could find her and probably have a conversation with her, but she was not generally available to journalists for interviews.”

Following  Lee’s death, Auburn University Journalism Professor Emeritus Ed Williams recalled his only meeting with the author who inspired him.

Williams grew up in Conecuh County, the next one over from Lee.

Williams first read “Mockingbird” in high school and, as a writer, was immediately inspired.

“I always told my students if they aspired to be a great writer, to read great writing, and ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ was at the top of my list,” Williams said.

A self-described pack rat and news junkie, Williams saved every news clipping he could that concerned Lee. He kept the clippings in a large cardboard box and hoped he’d one day see her in person.

About 40 years after first reading “Mockingbird,” Williams got his chance.

Lee was at the Capitol for the 2003 Alabama Academy of Honor induction to support fellow Alabama author Kathryn Windham, whom Lee nominated for the Academy.

As Windham’s son, Ben, said in a piece for The Tuscaloosa News after the event, “A public appearance by Harper Lee anywhere is news.”

And yet, Lee’s affinity for privacy only made Williams respect her more.

“I loved her book and the fact that she was a fellow south Alabamian,” Williams said. “It added to my respect and admiration of her. I respected her reclusive nature and that she wanted to be left alone. Just like Boo Radley.”

When Williams finally got his first – and only – chance to meet Lee, he relished the opportunity.

“What stands out to me is how warm and friendly she was,” Williams said. “I told her I had a box full of clippings and articles that I had saved about her. She laughed and said, ‘You ought to burn them.’”

Such was the humor of Monroeville’s literary legend.

That induction was also the first time Kathryn Windham met Lee.

Windham’s daughter, Dilcy Windham Hilley, said her mother had no idea Lee knew she existed. After meeting, the two became fast friends, old souls who bonded over the way things once were.

“She brought so much pleasure to my mother’s life,” Windham Hilley said. “They just became really great friends… They would just sit knee to knee laughing and talking.”

By this time, an aging Lee lived in The Meadows, an assisted-living facility in Monroeville. That didn’t stop her from having fun.

“(Lee) just wrote or called my mother and said, ‘I’m just bored to death. Will you come over here and entertain me?’” Windham Hilley said.

More than anything, Windham Hilley remembers how grateful Lee was to have somebody to talk to about Alabama politics.

“She was not unapproachable at all,” Windham Hilley said. “She was media shy, but mother was not there to interview her or investigate her. They were just there to be friends.”

Stewart, a journalist himself, spoke to Lee a few times in Monroeville, and she once bought typewriter ribbon from him. Never did he ask about her best-selling novel.

Just as Lee never felt the need to write again, the people of Monroeville had no desire to harp on her accomplishments.

Everyone knew the power of her book, Stewart said.

“A lot of people felt like I did: that she had done something really great that was a blessing to all of us, and we should respect her privacy,” Stewart said.

When Stewart did speak with her, he said Lee was nothing short of pleasant.

“I didn’t ask her about the book or anything related to the book, because I thought she may not have wanted to talk about that,” Stewart said. “When I saw her, we just had pleasant conversations. She was really nice. That’s the best way I can describe her.”

'Mockingbird' author Harper Lee dies, age 89

The Associated Press contributed to this report.