"I ONLY wish my dad was here to see it – he would have told everyone he knew."
Those were the words of successful Cleethorpes barrister Taryn Lee, 44, who has been named on the Who's Who list of influential people, published by the Oxford University Press in the same year her father passed away.
As reported, Tommy Lee brought headline acts to the resort, such as Ken Dodd and Bernard Manning, when he owned the Sands Bar, but he lost his battle with cancer on February 5.
Weeks later, on what would have been Tommy's 76th birthday – October 28 – Taryn was called to join the Queen's Council, one of the highest honours in the legal profession, as reported.
Taryn said at the time that it felt like her dad was "pulling strings in heaven".
Now, Taryn and Cleethorpes-born Nick Lumley, who joined the Queen's Counsel at the same time, are two of 1,000 people added to the Who's Who list in the 2013 edition, which was printed on Wednesday.
Other first-timers include Olympic gold medallist Jessica Ennis, musical comedian Tim Minchin and Arianna Huffington, editor of the online Huffington Post news website.
Taryn added: "It is a bit weird to think that my name is on that list but I was glad to be able to put my parents' names in there as well.
"I think my dad was watching when I joined the Queen's Counsel and he will be watching now."
Mum-of-two Taryn, whose husband works on Grimsby Docks, went to a state school and a polytechnic university but now runs a chambers in Leeds and, in 2011, she chaired the annual barrister conference.
She has now been appointed the chair of a social mobility committee, tasked with making the profession more accessible for people from less privileged backgrounds.
Taryn's proud mum Joan Lee, 76, of Dolphin Street, Cleethorpes, said the whole family are "extremely proud" of everything she has achieved.
She added: "I think Tommy is watching from heaven and I bet he is boasting and telling everyone who will listen about it.
"He wasn't shy and was the type of person who would have told all and sundry – the whole town would have known about it.
"Tommy has definitely been looking down on us and I know he will be watching now.
"She joined the Queen's Counsel on his birthday and her colleagues took us to dinner in a place next to Nelson's Column afterwards.
"Tommy loved Nelson – he was the password on his computer and he even had his face printed on address cards."
