Samuel Womack Lee Sr.

LEE, Samuel Womack Sr., 95, retired Peanut Cooperative Manager, died December 8, 2009 at Southampton Memorial Hospital. He was reared in Drewryville, a son of the late Jesse and Anna Belle Womack Lee. He was predeceased by his first wife, Martha Forbes Lee; a sister, Ann Belle Lee; and a grandson, Samuel Womack Lee III. He was a 1935 graduate of Virginia Tech, and during the years 1935-1950 taught Vocational Agriculture and Shop, and coached basketball and baseball at Callands High School, Courtland High School, and Holland High School. From 1941-1945, he served in the U.S. Army, attaining the rank of Major. He was supervisor of Vocational Agriculture in Eastern Virginia from 1950 1954. From 19541979, he was manager of the Peanut Growers Cooperative Marketing Association; Charter member of the Agriculture Council of America; Co-founder of National Peanut Growers Group; Vice President of Virginia Council of Cooperatives; Vice Chairman of the Peanut Administrative Committee; Secretary-Treasurer-Member of Board of Directors of the National Peanut Council; and a member of the National Farm Coalition. Mr. Lee was a former resident near Holland; a member of the Holland Ruritan Club for over 70 years, Zone Governor of Zone 1, and District Governor of Ruritan National. He was a member of the American Legion for over 60 years and a member of the Forty and Eight since 1948. Mr. Lee, a member of High Street United Methodist Church, was a former member of Holland Baptist Church for over 35 years and served as Chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Deacons, Sunday School Superintendent, and taught the Men's Bible Class. He served as Moderator of the Baptist Blackwater Association. His hobbies included hunting, reading, genealogy, and all Virginia Tech sports. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Hazel Winstead Lee; two daughters, Elizabeth Lee Holland (Phillip) of Houston, Texas, and Dixie Lee Heckel (Carl) of Hazlet, N.J.; two sons, Samuel Womack Lee Jr. (Brenda) of Midlothian, and Jesse Owen Lee (Mary) of Whitney Point, N.Y.; five grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The funeral will be conducted at 11 a.m. Friday in the chapel of Wright Funeral Home, Franklin, Va. Interment, with military honors, will follow in Round Hill Cemetery in Emporia. The family will receive friends from 7 to 8:30 p.m. today (Thursday) at the funeral home and suggests memorials be made to High Street United Methodist Church Building Fund, P.O. Box 218, Franklin, Va. 23851, or a charity of choice. www.wrightfuneralhome.com


This obituary was originally published in the Richmond Times-Dispatch.