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While Norman respected the farm life ethic, he had no intention of remaining a farmer and working the fields.  He knew that he had a sharp mind and that though he would still have to work hard once he left home, an education would mean that he would not have to go back to the fields of the Plantation where he lived during his early teenage years.  And that kept Norman incredibly focused.  May 1941 at the age of sixteen, Norman graduated from Ouachita Parish High School (Monroe, LA), came to Beaumont to earn his tuition money as a laundry truck driver for Shepherd’s Laundry, enrolled in Louisiana State University (Baton Rouge, LA) where he played freshman football for LSU.  The summer following his freshman year he again worked in Beaumont to earn more tuition money as the operator of a bagging machine at the Royal Bag Factory.  Then came World War II and he enlisted in the United States Navy, graduating top of his class and given the rank of 3^rd Class in Marines.  He was assigned to Cal Tech V12 Squad in Pasadena, CA and he transferred from LSU to California Institute of Technology.  He commissioned as Ensign October 1945 and was on active duty in Panama.  He spent some time working for Standard Oil Company of California and then returned to Cal Tech where in 1947, he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering.  In his last semester at Cal Tech, Norman was appointed Commandant of the unit and that position of leadership opened doors for him that he never knew existed. 

In his autobiography More Later, Norman wrote, “I was invited at times on Sunday afternoon to a social for visiting dignitaries put on by Dr. and Mrs. Milliken.  Dr. Milliken was famous for his “oil drop” experiment when he discovered the charge of an electron.  It was at one of these functions that I saw Einstein.  He looked like all his pictures but didn’t talk about science.”  Norman recalled that his conversations with Dr. Albert Einstein were about “flowers”…about “gardening”.  And perhaps it was during those conversations that he told Einstein about planting cotton, potatoes, tomatoes, beans, cabbage, and okra.  In More Later, Norman shares that “okra seemed to grow at any time and in any soil.  We had lot of okra.  It might have kept some people from starving; it was boiled, fried, cooked with tomatoes, made into soup, gumbo and fed to the pigs.  That is the reason I will only eat okra in gumbo and then it has to be cooked so it is not legible to the naked eye.”

It was during his college years that Norman developed his leadership skills.  He served as student body president.  He was the Chairman of the Board of Control of the Associated Students of the California Institute of Technology.   He was responsible for reorganizing the Court of Traditions at Cal Tech.  He was recipient of the Honor Key of Cal Tech for his consistent service to his school.  And Norm was involved in Varsity football, playing both offense and defense positions.  In fact, Norm (Co-Captain of the team) and his teammates played in the 1944 Rose Bowl and he was described by his teammates as the “sparkplug of the championship 1944 football squad.”  Years later, in 2003, he and his teammates of the 1944 undefeated Cal Tech Beavers were awarded the Scholar Athlete Hall of Fame for their team’s accomplishments.  As Norman reflected in his autobiography, “All in all it was a big ride for an old ‘country boy’.”

Following graduation from Cal Tech, Norman joined Allis Chalmers Manufacturing Company (Milwaukee, WI) where he was assigned to the team that built and installed the synchrotron at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Cambridge, MA).  The team’s representatives were from Allis Chalmers, Westinghouse and General Electric and “all plans had to be approved by the Atomic Energy Commission.”  In his own words, Norman writes, “The machine was to be used mostly for medical research.  The electrons were accelerated in the machine to a point needed then the machine was turned off to allow the electron stream to go through the wall and hit the test sample.  After all the work was completed, we all returned for the test run.  With some failures and some changes…success.” 

Milwaukee was just too cold for Norman, so he returned to Baton Rouge and applied for a job at Gulf States Utilities.  He got the job if he agreed to move to Beaumont in January 1949.  Norman said it this way, “That’s like Brer Rabbit telling Brer Fox not to throw him in the blackberry bushes.  I didn’t hesitate a minute, and I’ve never regretted my decision’.” 

One of the treasures that he found while in Beaumont was Nell Ray.  They married January 1950.  In 1951 he was recalled to active duty as Navy Lieutenant in the Pacific region during the Korean War and then was reassigned to repair ship in Norfolk, VA, returning to Gulf States November 1952.  And Norman and Nell started their family with the birth of son Norman (Norm) R. Lee, Jr. and daughter Rebecca (Becky) Nell Lee.

Within GSU Norman had various engineering and management positions, steadily moving up the corporate ladder with leadership in Lake Charles and then in Baton Rouge and then back to Beaumont.  When Norman was first named an officer of GSU, he was forty-three years old and was the youngest officer in the GSU family.

While serving in the roles of vice president, president, vice chairman and chief operating officer of Gulf States, Norman was also an involved civic and cultural leader, including the following: Lake Charles, LA: Boy Scouts of America, Regional Planning Committee and Executive Committee; Baton Rouge, LA: Aide-de-Camp to Louisiana Governor John J. McKeithen; Beaumont, TX: Director of Texas Commerce Bank; on the Board of Stewards of Trinity United Methodist Church, Search Committee for Dean of Engineering for Lamar University and other communities, Board of Directors of American National Bank, of Junior Achievement and of Beaumont Country Club, and numerous capacities of leadership in Beaumont Chamber of Commerce, the United Way, the Rotary Club of Beaumont. 

Norman’s legacy of civic and cultural leadership is not mentioned in his autobiography More Later; they are just part of the fabric of the communities where he lived and the memories of those with whom he served.  But in More Later he does tell his grandson Tim what he modeled for so many others over the years: “Develop the interpersonal skills that will both carry through life and allow you to have a good time.

When Norm filled out his Rotary Club of Beaumont application in 1970, he shared that his hobbies were golf, cooking, stained glass and etching.  He also wrote that he played no musical instrument and did not sing, but it has been reported that Norm and Myrtle, the second love of his life, were active members of the Sterling Silver Singers of Trinity United Methodist Church, singing every week for local area retirement homes.

Norman Lee was preceded in death by his parents, Reverend John Wesley Lee and Lilly Bozone Calk Lee; his wife of sixty one years, Nell Ray Lee; his siblings from the marriage of Reverend Lee to Winnie Lucinda Mason Lee: Mable, Clarence, Georgia Belle, Johnny (J. W., Jr.), Edna, Henry, and Wilson; his siblings from the marriage of Reverend Lee to Lilly Bozone Calk Lee: A.B., Gladys, Dallas, Billy, and Mildred; and other beloved and loving family members. 

He is survived by his loving companion and friend, Myrtle Locke Lee; his son Norman (Norm) R. Lee, Jr. of Marietta, GA; his daughter, Rebecca (Becky) Nell Adams and her husband William R. Adams of Sugar Land, TX; four grandchildren, Jeremy and his wife Erin Lee, Tim and wife, Kimberly Lee, Daniel Lee, and Tanner Adams; and four great grandchildren, Abigail Lee, Garrison Lee, Jeremiah Lee, and Madeline Grace Lee; his siblings from the marriage of Reverend Lee and Orpha Calk Lee: Richard, Hallie, Jane, David, Sally, Charles, Lynn, and Tommy; his Gulf states/Entergy Texas family, his friends at Trinity United Methodist Church, his trusty “Buddy” canes known as Was and Was, Jr., and community friends, especially the members of the Rotary Club of Beaumont. 

Now, Therefore, Be it Resolved that the members of the Rotary Club of Beaumont express sorrow at the death of Norman Ray Lee and mourn the loss of a man who exemplified the Great American Dream while remaining gentle, genial, and genuinely caring of others and who had fun living life in absolute amazement and spreading joy wherever he went.

And, Be it Further Resolved that this resolution is spread across the minutes of this Rotary Club, and that a copy be furnished to the various members of his family and to the archives of Gulf States Utilities/Entergy Texas which are stored at The Tyrrell Historical Library (Beaumont, TX).

Passed by unanimous vote of the membership this the 28^st day of November, 2012.

       Approved:

________________________________,             ________________________________,
Becky Mason                                                   Cynthia A. Wolf, Chair
President                                                         Resolutions & Memorials Committee

Attest:

________________________________,             ________________________________,
Craig Escamilla                                                 Jacque Chapman
Secretary                                                         Executive Director