S. Womack Lee Sr.

S. Womack Lee Sr. FRANKLIN - Samuel Womack Lee Sr., 95, retired peanut cooperative manager, died Dec. 8, 2009, at Southampton Memorial Hospital. He was reared in Drewryville, a son of the late Jesse and Anna Belle Womack Lee, and 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 of 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 1954-1979, 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 more than 70 years, Zone Governor of Zone 1, and District Governor of Ruritan National. He was a member of the American Legion for more than 60 years and a member of the Forty & Eight since 1948. Mr. Lee, a member of High Street United Methodist Church, was a former member of Holland Baptist Church for more than 35 years and served as chairman of the Board of Trustees and the Board of Deacons, Sunday school superintendant, and taught the Men's Bible Class. He served as Moderator of the Baptist Blackwater Association. His hobbies included hunting, reading, geneology, and all Virginia Tech sports. Left to cherish his memory are his wife, Hazel Winstead Lee; two daughters, Elizabeth Lee Holland (Phillip) of Houston, 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. 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 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.org.