The best way I can describe Larry Lee is “a sampler of all things Alabama.” He showed up and showed out in different times and places across Alabama, leaving a little bit of Larry Lee with everyone he influenced.
“I am a part of all that I have met.” —Alfred, Lord Tennyson
Larry Greeley Lee, 83, died June 22 in Mobile.
Lee was born Jan. 21, 1943, while his father was serving at Maxwell Field in Montgomery, now Maxwell Air Force Base. The family moved around the nation before settling on a Mobile County farm. Lee graduated from Theodore High School in 1961 — a Theodore Bobcat.
One constant in Lee’s life was his love for Auburn University. He was the first Auburn student in the university’s new agricultural journalism major. He lettered in track under Mel Rosen, who would coach Auburn track for 37 years. He served as sports editor of the student newspaper The Plainsman, where he worked alongside David Housel, Auburn’s future sports information director.
While at Auburn, Lee learned to dance the shag — after all, it was the 1960s. He never stopped dancing. Through the years, when Larry Lee hit the dance floor, it was the 1960s again, and you could almost hear the old Bobbettes tune “Mr. Lee” playing along.
Lee graduated from Auburn in 1966.
“All I need to make me happy is a car that runs and a pair of Auburn football tickets,” Lee once joked.
Lee was an editor at Progressive Farmer magazine, an advertising copywriter at Luckie & Forney, Southern editor for Successful Farming magazine and farm news director for the Capitol Agri-Net radio network.
He served as executive vice president of the Georgia Pork Producers Association and directed communications for the National Pork Producers Council. He made hundreds of presentations to national, regional, state and local agricultural and civic organizations on the future of American agriculture.
Lee served as executive director of the Tri-Rivers Waterway Development Association, the Southeast Alabama Planning and Development Commission, the West Alabama Economic Development Authority and the Covington County Economic Development Commission, and as director of the Center for Rural Alabama.
Lee was a Jaycee in both Birmingham and Montgomery. For four years, he chaired a statewide Jaycee project that was named the state’s No. 1 project in 1972.
Lee founded the Auburn University Agricultural Alumni Association and served on its board. He was also a board member of Goodwill Industries of Central Alabama.
In 1973, Lee helped manage the successful Alabama House campaign of his Auburn classmate George McMillan, the future lieutenant governor. In 1974, he served as campaign manager for state Rep. Phil Smith of Talladega in his run for agriculture commissioner. They fell short.
Lee ran for U.S. Congress in 1982, 1984 and 1992. When he won the Democratic nomination in 1984, his car caught fire in a Montgomery parking lot while he was giving a speech.
In later years, Lee turned his focus to education reform. He was a frequent guest columnist, published the book “In the Land of Cotton: How Old Times There Still Shape Alabama’s Future” and blogged at larryeducation.com. His blog, “Education Matters,” was described as offering “common sense approaches to solving education challenges” and earned more than 250,000 page views a year. He compiled a study, “Lessons Learned from Rural Schools,” showcasing the successes of 10 rural Alabama elementary schools.
Lee chaired the board of Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY) and the advisory board of HIPPY Alabama, an early childhood learning program. He was a charter member of the Network for Public Education, served on the board of the Rural Schools Collaborative and helped create the Black Belt Teacher Corps at the University of West Alabama.
He made presentations to the Southern Legislative Conference, the Southern Growth Policies Board, the Delta Regional Authority, VOICES for Alabama’s Children, the Alabama Association of School Boards, the Alabama Farmers Federation, the Association of County Commissions of Alabama and the School Superintendents of Alabama.
In 2018, Lee served as an appointed member of the Montgomery County school board. In 2019, he won the Alabama Governor’s “Employment of People with Disabilities” media award.
Funeral services will be Saturday, July 11, at White Chapel-Greenwood Funeral Home, 909 Lincoln Road, Montgomery. Visitation begins at 10 a.m., with the service at 11 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Rural Schools Collaborative in honor of Larry G. Lee.
Entering heaven, Larry Lee was likely to be greeted by Auburn coaches Ralph “Shug” Jordan and Mel Rosen. He may be dancing the shag with the angels.
Jim “Zig” Zeigler is a freelance writer about the colorful and positive in Alabama — her people, places, events, groups and prominent deaths. He is a former Alabama public service commissioner and state auditor. You can reach him at [email protected].
