William Lee, who touched thousands of lives as a teacher, coach, volunteer and driving instructor, died on Saturday, July 22nd, 2023, at a rehab facility in Virginia. He was 88.
Learning to drive through the Lee Driving School was a rite of passage for young men and women in the Fanwood-Scotch Plains community for 38 years.
“I do have patience,” he said in February. “I’ve had to slow them down, had them speed up or do one thing or the other, but it worked out well.”
Bill and Josephine Lee in February, 2023
Even before the driving school, Mr. Lee was a ubiquitous presence as a coach and physical education teacher, first at Terrill Middle School from 1968 to 1977, then at Scotch Plains-Fanwood High School from 1977 until his retirement in 1993.
Coaching brought him a unique opportunity in the early 1980s when he went to Africa to coach the national basketball team of the Republic of Burundi.
Bill Lee, center, with Burundi basketball players in 1981
“My brother-in-law had contacts in Burundi and learned they were looking for a coach for their national team,” recalls Lee’s wife, Josephine. “Bill went to Africa every summer, 1981 to 86, to coach them. He took them to the Central African Games in Angola.”
During one trip, he met a promising player, Fiacré (pron: fee-AHK-ra), who came back to New Jersey and lived with them while he attended high school and college.
Mr. Lee was a long-time elected member of the Fanwood Democratic Committee and served as the Mayor’s Designee on the Fanwood Planning Board. His family were among the original residents of Kramer Manor, a development near McGinn Elementary School created in the 1920s to provide housing for black families who might otherwise have been denied. He later moved to Terrill Road in Fanwood where he lived for many years before moving to Plainfield after retiring from the driving school in 2022. He and Mrs. Lee moved to Lancaster, Virginia in June.
Mr. Lee was honored in absentia at this year’s Juneteenth celebration in Scotch Plains for his legacy as a teacher, community icon and resident of Kramer Manor. His son William Lee III was presented with a quilt commemorating his life made by local school children.
In addition to his wife Josephine, Mr. Lee is survived by daughter Debbie, son William, his wife Patrice and their children Noah, Elijah and Nia; son Daryl, his wife Jennifer and their two daughters Ella and Olivia; son Fiacré and extended family members Ira and Jennifer. Additional surviving family members are Mr. Lee’s brother Robert W. Lee and his wife Shirley, his sisters Brenda Lee and Constance Mills and a host of nieces, nephews and friends. Mr. Lee was predeceased by his sisters Rose Upshaw and Patricia Craig and his son Arnold.
A memorial service will be held sometime in August in Fanwood.
