CSCM Leonard H. Lee Jr.
USN Retired
Leonard H. (Chief) Lee, 91 of Decatur, MS passed away on April 1, 2017 at the VA nursing home in Kosciusko after a long battle with Alzheimer's. He was born on February 15, 1926 in Warrior, AL, a rural area north of Birmingham, AL.
He joined the United States Navy during WWII and participated in the Philippine Liberation Campaign and the Japanese Homeland Occupation after Japan's surrender. In 1946, he was assigned to the Atlantic Fleet where he spent much of his naval career. He retired from the Navy while assigned to the Supply Research and Development Facility at Bayonne, NJ with the rank of Master Chief.
After retiring from the Navy, he took a position with ARA Slater Food Service, currently known as ARAMARK. After a brief stint at what was formerly known as Florence State College in Florence, AL, he was named the Director of Food Services at what would become East Central Community College in Decatur in 1964. He remained at East Central until his retirement in 1988.
He is survived by two sons: Mike Lee (Brandon, MS) and Gary Lee and his wife Jan (Alpharetta, GA); three grandsons Curry Lee and his wife Suzanne (Nashville, TN), Tanner Lee (Brandon, MS), and Matthew Lee (Alpharetta, GA), and two granddaughters Reagan Lee (Brandon, MS) and Marissa Lee (Alpharetta, GA); brother Wayne Lee (Locust Fork, AL), sister Inez Lee (Smithfield, NC), and several nieces and nephews.
He was preceded in death by his wife Elizabeth (Betty), daughter Brenda, brothers Jim and Jesse, sisters Mildred, Barbra, and Clina Bell, and his parents.
Visitation is Tuesday, April 4, 2017 from 5:00pm to 8:00pm at Newton County Funeral Home-North. A committal service with military burial in the Decatur Cemetery at 11:30am on Wednesday, April 5, 2017.