Born in Gals, Switzerland, Mina worked in the family potato, wheat and flower fields. At the age of 4, she spent a year in the hospital after a car left the road and ran over her in the flower fields. After she left school, she worked for a time in Brussels in the French Embassy. She moved to Canada in 1961 to join relatives in the Greenwood area and there she met and later married Morris Peterson, a miner and diamond drill contractor. She had 20 happy years with him, cooking and helping in the camps, until he died of cancer. Some time later she met Ray Lee, they married and had many happy years together.
Mina enjoyed the outdoors, and liked to hike, hunt and fish. She enjoyed the Pistol Club along with Ray, and competed in competitions. She won several trophies with her pistol and rifle skills. She was a longtime member of Deborah Rebekah Lodge #13. With failing health, they moved to Castlegar Village in 2007. After Ray died in 2012, Mina could not manage alone, and moved to Talarico Place a few months later. She leaves her cousin Willi Zimmerman, wife Patricia, and family; stepson Ron Lee, 4 step grandchildren, and longtime friends Alex and Carol Kranz. There will be no funeral by her request.