Mr. Earl F. Lee's Obituary
EARL FRANKLIN LEE Born September 1st, 1919; the second son to Robert, Sr. & Bessie Lee in Houston, TX(a Native Houston). His brother Robert, Jr. was 4 years older. Earl had no sisters. His father was a Houston Police Officer, and his mother was a LVN.
Earl grew up in the Houston Heights during the Great Depression. Earl was always a hard worker doing any odd jobs, operating a neighborhood newspaper route, and collecting treasures/trash & coke bottles to bring income into the family. The art of sifting through others discards would stay with him his entire adult life. Earl attended Reagan High School and was active in the ROTC program until his graduation in 1939.
Earl worked as a truck driver and gasoline station attendant until joining the Army Air Force(fore runner of the United States Air Force) in 1942. His brother Robert was shipped to Europe to fight the War, where he was killed in action during a bombing raid over Germany. Earl was shipped to the Pacific and was stationed in Australia and the Philippine Islands. After two bronze star campaigns, Earl was released in September 1945.
In less than six months he married the red hair girl, Marie, from Grapeland, TX. For the next 67 years through thick and thin, they raised two daughters, Sherry and Earlene, had five grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. Earl worked on the Houston Ship Channel for the Sinclair/Arco/Lyondell/BP refinery for thirty-four years. He started on the loading dock as a laborer and worked his way up the union ranks to retire as a control operator.
Earl and Marie loved to travel, so Earl would be bitten by the new car bug every 2-3 years. They enjoyed camping in the State & National parks throughout America. The tenting camping would process to a travel trailer and in their later years a motorcoach RV became the mode of transportation. If Earl was not at the refinery or volunteering at his church, you could find him in the work shop making wooden crafts of all sorts. Earl never met a tool, manual or high-powered, he did not like or need. His mind could see beauty from a pile of used lumber. He taught himself electrical wiring, plumbing, and general construction contracting. Even though he could master these crafts, he never progressed to obtaining a license. He was a true Jack-of-All trades.
Earl F. Lee---Son, American Patriot, Husband, Father, Grandfather, and God fearing Soul.
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