Tom Lee anniversary reflects larger changes after hero’s life
“He was just the embodiment of a good man,” said Terry Watts (right) holding his grandson, Jaylen Shields, at Fourth Bluff Park during a Tom Lee Day celebration May 8, 2021. Watts is the great-great-nephew of Tom Lee. (Patrick Lantrip/Daily Memphian)
The 2006 sculpture honoring Tom Lee’s 1925 rescue of 32 people from the Mississippi River is a prominent part of plans to remake the popular park. But the fate of a 1954 monument that refers to Lee as a “very worthy Negro” is uncertain.
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Tom Lee Tom Lee Park redesign Charmeal Neely Alexander Terry Watts Steve CohenBill Dries on demand
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Bill Dries
Bill Dries covers city and county government and politics. He is a native Memphian and has been a reporter for more than 40 years.