The Making of a Hero: Tom Lee’s legacy
The Tom Lee monument, which has been in Tom Lee Park since 2006, has at times been an indicator of the city’s mood, including a green glove stretched across Lee’s hand at the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown in March 2020. (Bill Dries/The Daily Memphian)
If Tom Lee’s legacy was just the 32 people he saved from drowning on the Mississippi River 100 years ago, it would still be considerable and difficult to fathom.
“There’s people that are alive now ... just because of the fact that he saved their relatives,” said Lee’s great-grandson Johnny Williams, who recently discovered his connection to Lee. “My heart goes out to the people who lost their lives. But my heart also goes out to the people he saved.”
This is an excerpt of this story. To read more, please click here and subscribe.
Topics
Tom Lee Centennial Subscriber Only Tom LeeThank you for supporting local journalism.
Subscribers to The Daily Memphian help fund our not-for-profit newsroom of nearly 40 local journalists plus more than 20 freelancers, all of whom work around the clock to cover the issues impacting our community. Subscriptions - and donations - also help fund our community access programs which provide free access to K-12 schools, community organizations, and more. Thank you for making our work possible.
Bill Dries on demand
Never miss an article. Sign up to receive Bill Dries' stories as they’re published.
Enter your e-mail address
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.
Want to comment on our stories or respond to others? Join the conversation by subscribing now. Only paid subscribers can add their thoughts or upvote/downvote comments. Our commenting policy can be viewed here.