Richard C. Lee

Richard C. (Dick) Lee of East Greenwich passed away on July 11, 2016. He was the devoted husband of the late Janice Lee (Tarvis). He was born in Woonsocket in 1930 to the late Ralph Lee and Lillian (Carew) Lee.
More than five decades ago Dick Lee competed in track and cross country for LaSalle Academy and was named as a 14 year old sophomore for the first of three consecutive years as a First Team All State selection in Cross Country. After graduating Dick received a track scholarship to the University of Notre Dame.
Post college graduation, Dick expanded into teaching, coaching, officiating and writing. He taught in the Coventry School system for twenty eight (28) years and for ten (10) years he coached cross country at Coventry High School, leading the Class C school to the Class B Championship in 1957 and producing two All State runners.
Dick worked for the Providence Journal for thirty three (33) years and for approximately twenty of them he wrote about high school sports. As a writer he championed girls’ athletics, helping girls’ sports become entrenched in the newspaper’s reporting and accepted by its hierarchy and the public as well.
At the Journal he selected All State teams in numerous sports, including boys’ hockey, cross country, indoor and outdoor track, soccer, wrestling, lacrosse and swimming, and girls’ field hockey, basketball, lacrosse, gymnastics, tennis and fast pitch softball.
Dick Lee was the first male field hockey referee in the RIIL. Additionally, he officiated both girls’ soccer and fast pitch softball. His most enduring achievement, however, was his completion of more than fifty consecutive seasons as an umpire of boys’ varsity baseball. During those five decades he umpired numerous State playoff series, including several championship games.
During his diverse career, Dick was often recognized for his dedication to high school athletics and he was awarded the Alice Sullivan Award in 1994, a Special Award for his commitment to girls’ athletics by Lincoln School in 1991, the Pard Pearce Award for baseball umpiring in 2002, the Rhode Island Athletic Directors’ Media Award in 1991 and the Rhode Island American Legion Baseball Umpires Appreciation Award in 2006. One of his proudest moments was the day in 2007 when he was inducted into the Rhode Island Interscholastic League’s Hall of Fame.
He is survived by five children and their spouses, James R. Lee and his wife Nancy of Richmond, RI, Richard A. Lee and his partner Diane Patefield of Narragansett, RI, Glenn P. Lee of Gainesville, Ga., Bethany L. Scully and her husband Kirk Scully of Middletown, RI and Andy Lee and his wife Carol Lee of Marietta, Ga.. He leaves four grandchildren, Wendi Archambault, Jason D. Lee, Ryann L. Scully and Kirk E. Scully and two step-grandchildren, Peter Michael Jenkins and Kellie Northcutt.
A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated Friday, July 15th at 10:00am at Our Lady of Mercy Church, 65 Third St. East Greenwich. Burial will be in St. John the Evangelist Cemetery, North Smithfield. Calling hours: Thursday, July 14th from 4:00pm to 7:00pm at the Hill Funeral Home, 822 Main St., East Greenwich. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Crossroads, Rhode Island, 160 Broad St., Providence, RI 02903 in honor of his mother, Lillian Carew Lee.