The Making of a Hero: Who was Tom Lee?
Tom Lee lived at 923 N. Mansfield St. in Klondike after his 1925 rescue of 32 people on the Mississippi River. The house, paid for with donations collected by the Memphis Engineers Club, was his home for the rest of his life. Today a mural is painted across the front of the house. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian)
Somewhere in Mt. Carmel Cemetery in South Memphis obscured by high grass or thick brush or both is the grave of Tom Lee.
Several times throughout the years, the cemetery has lapsed into this overgrown condition. Cemetery records are rebuilt, and graves, sometimes relocated, are tended again.
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Tom Lee Centennial Denise Neely Johnny Williams Margaret Lee Subscriber OnlyThank you for supporting local journalism.
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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 almost 50 years covering a wide variety of stories from the 1977 death of Elvis Presley and the 1978 police and fire strikes to numerous political campaigns, every county mayor and every Memphis Mayor starting with Wyeth Chandler.
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