This coming Sunday, Charlie Lee will become an octogenarian. He is the son of Robert M. Lee, who was the production manager at the Rappahannock Record for many years, and Ellen Lee, to whom I have referred in this item as Auntie numerous times over the years.
After retiring from an illustrious career as a manager for the Army & Air Force Exchange Service at military bases at home and abroad, Charlie and his wife, Anita, returned home to Lancaster County.
Once back here, Charlie’s first priority was undertaking the restoration of the historic Lee home on the family farm in Fleet’s Bay. Almost all of the work there he and Anita have undertaken to do themselves, thereby constituting the greatest do-it-yourself project I ever have known. They have returned the house to its original design, all the while endowing it with modern functionality.
Charlie was born in Norfolk while his father was serving in the United States Navy during World War II. After Robert M.’s wartime service, the Lees returned to Kilmarnock where they built a home with a terraced front yard overlooking Bellevue Avenue. Charlie graduated from Lancaster High School and went on to Old Dominion University where he received his degree in business.
After joining A.A.F.E.S., in the 1970s among his assignments was managing the exchange in what was then West Berlin during the height of the Cold War. At the time, Berlin was a scary place to be, surrounded by communist East Germany then ruled by the brutal dictator Erich Honecker. Memories of the Berlin Airlift were still fresh in the minds of the residents who had been encircled by the Berlin Wall built in 1961 by the Soviet Union at the direction of Nikita Khrushchev.
Charlie’s return stateside led to his meeting a fellow A.A.F.E.S. employ, Anita Thompson, whom he married in his mother’s family church, the historic Mitchells Presbyterian Church in Culpeper County, in 1982. The church was built in 1879 and the interior murals depicting gothic arches and other designs were painted by Joseph Philip Oddenino, the Italian immigrant master of trompe l’oeil artistry. Seeing the murals is well worth a trip up to the Shenandoah Valley.
Since coming home, Charlie has been a stalwart in serving the public interest on the Lancaster County Social Services Board and as a citizen member of the Northern Neck Planning District Commission. His extensive background and knowledge of how government works are invaluable in public service.
Sunday also marks the arrival at octogenarianism of Bruce Burgess, another individual with close ties to the Northern Neck, being the son of Robert H. Burgess, the legendary historian of all matters related to the Chesapeake Bay. Bruce is an architecture graduate of Virginia Tech, who with his wife, Mary Alice, retired for some years to an impressive historic house they purchased in White Stone, before moving to a family home on the Eastern Shore.
Locally, Bruce was the architect of the church hall of Heathsville United Methodist Church, a structure that he tied into the original building with great success. When not engaged in his profession, Bruce has pursued his avocation, music. He contributed his musical talents to the Northern Neck Orchestra, where, with his outstanding white beard and mane, he was immediately recognizable as the trumpeter at the concerts. His commitment was of such significance to him that he continued to return for performances after having moved away from the area.
I do not know if these “astrological twins” know each other personally, but I do know that their mutual attraction to the Land of Pleasant Living is a tie that truly would bind them together.
Happy Birthday, Charlie and Bruce! Ad multos annos!
