Lee E. Greene

I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7

Lee Edward Greene, 89, beloved son, brother, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, and cherished friend was one of the last of the Greatest Generation, a loving and dedicated family man who was a joyful and steadfast breadwinner. He was a man good with his hands whether the task was to fix a leaky faucet, to make a car purr, or to build a house. But essentially he was a simple man - he held no public office, never attained fame nor amassed a fortune, but within the small circle that comprised his life, he was the center that always held, the rock upon whom everyone depended, the flint against which everyone struck on his/her passage to adulthood. We aren't likely to see his kind again any time soon.

With the courage, strength, and determination that typified him, Lee fought a long battle with pulmonary artery disease, but succumbed to it on March 29, 2014 at a hospice care center in Palatka, Florida. Born on November 30, 1924 in Pike County Ohio to Alderson Estep Greene and Eva Love Wheeling Greene (both deceased), he was the third-born child of the couple's twelve children, six of whom have preceded Lee in death. They include Rita Christine Greene, William Greene, Paul Greene, Marie Schnees, Ada Webb, and Nathan "Jake" Greene. The family presided primarily in Peebles, Adams County, Ohio during the growing-up years of the children. In 1942, while World War II raged on and Lee was seventeen, he married his longtime sweetheart Roma Evelyn Gaffin, a union of nearly fifty years that ended upon Roma's death on June 29, 1992. Shortly after his marriage to Roma, Lee was drafted into the U. S. Navy, but received an honorable medical discharge while in training camp.

War jobs lured the couple to the Dayton, Ohio area initially, but they settled in Columbus, Ohio in 1943, and lived there until their retirement in 1987. Following their retirement, Roma from the Columbus Public School System and Lee from the Anheuser Busch Brewing Company, they moved to Interlachen, Florida, a place well-suited to Roma's love of gardening and Lee's fondness of fishing. Lee became an active member of the Teamsters Union. He was also an active member of the Fraternal Order of Eagles in Interlachen, Florida.

Lee will be remembered affectionately as a fierce card player, especially in the games of Euchre and Cribbage, as well as a great storyteller who regaled his audiences with an endless number of stories and jokes. The fondest memories of him by his loved-ones will center on his strumming his guitar with his brothers and friends and for serenading all within earshot with his mellow baritone. Upon his retirement, he took up a lifelong desire to refinish furniture.

Lee is survived by a large extended family of several in-laws, cousins, nieces and nephews; by his devoted caregivers, daughter-in-law Dorothy Brown Greene and friend John Brown; by his siblings Ann Armstrong, Mabel Miller, Lloyd Greene, Kenneth Greene, and Mary Clark; by his children Linda L. Greene Diez, David M. Greene, Sherri B. Greene, and Susan R. Greene; by his grandchildren Frank D. Diez, Joseph D. Gaffin, Elizabeth Diez Gillenwater, Samantha J. Greene, and Leland T. M. Greene; as well as by his great grandchildren Edward Z. Gaffin, Alixander J. Penrod, Sadie L. Gaffin, and Noah J. Gillenwater.

Visitation will be held Friday, April 4, 2014 from 4pm until the time of Funeral Service at 7pm at Newcomer Funeral Home, SW Chapel, 3393 Broadway, Grove City, OH (614)539-6166. The following morning at 11am, Lee will be buried next to his beloved wife Roma at Cedar Fork Cemetery in Adams County, Ohio.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests that monetary donations be sent to Haven Hospice Satterwhite Campus for Care and Compassion, 6400 St. John's Avenue, Palatka, Florida 32177 (800) 727-1889 in memory of Lee E. Greene.




Directions from Columbus/Grove City, Ohio to Cedar Fork Cemetery, a trip of about an hour and a half:

Take US 23 South toward Portsmouth. Travel about 55 miles and then make a slight right onto OH 104/SR 104 in Waverly (Lloyd's Pizzeria is on the corner). Travel about 6.2 miles and then turn right onto OH 32/SR 32. Travel about 23 miles and then turn left onto OH 32/SR 32 (Steam Furnace Rd.) If you reach OH 42/SR 42, you've gone too far. Travel 3 to 5 miles and then turn left onto Mineral Springs Road. Travel about 2 ½ miles and then turn left onto Cedar Fork Road. The first driveway on the left leads to the cemetery.