John was born in Birmingham, Alabama to Bonnie and Myron Lee.  John was deeply loved by his parents and his older twin siblings, Myron and Martha.  His maternal grandparents Florence and Lloyd Teer loved John very much as well as his great-grandmother, Rosa Golden.

John was a quiet child and a quiet man.  He never said much but he listened to everyone and every sound that this world gave.  He was a proud Marine and honorably served his country.  He assisted in bringing up the debris from the Challenger tragedy in 1986.

As many veterans do, John experienced mental issues as he grew older and his physical health declined.  But John was gentle and compassionate always.  His sister Martha bought him a $400 coat one Christmas to add to the three he already had. Later on, when Martha visited him she noted the $400 coat was not in his closet.  When she asked John where it was, he simply said “I gave it to a man down at the VA that didn’t have a coat.”  And later, when Martha visited because John wasn’t answering his cell phone, John said “Well, there was a man down on his luck and asked to borrow my cell phone for a day and he would bring it back to me but he never did bring it back.”

And John loved animals.  There was a feral colony of cats that hung out right outside his apartment.  The reason was because John fed them every day and made sure they had ice water in the heat of the summer.  He even gave them ice cream in the evenings.  We managed to only rescue one and found him the best home.  John was so happy about that.

I will forever miss my brother John and his precious, loving soul.  John was so loved.  

Matthew 5:8