Lee Updike was born in White Fox in rural northern Saskatchewan in 1932. As a youth he worked the family farm, ran a trapline, and worked in sawmills and in the bush. Updike started boxing as a teenager and pursued a boxing career until his early twenties. Thereafter, he worked in manufacturing and sales while upgrading his education, particularly in commercial art. While in his early thirties, Updike began freelance illustrating, specializing in drawing and painting the Native peoples of early Canada. Several books have featured Updike’s illustrations, and his Indian artwork has been displayed in Canadian museums and galleries. In the 1970s, Lee Updike hearkened to another call and laid aside pen and brush to devote twenty-five years to Christian ministry. Lee and his wife Beverly live in Edmonton where Lee is active in drawing, painting, and writing.