Earl Wayne LEE

Earl 08 Nov 1954 - 19 Feb 2015 obituary
Kathleen 20 Oct 1950 - pre-need

Marriage: ca 1978

Earl the loving husband of Kathy (DeGrave) Lee. Earl the son of Early Ray Lee and Opal Lee (Sharp) Lee.


Earl Wayne Lee 1954 - 2015

Author, librarian, and free thinker, Earl Wayne Lee passed away at home in Pittsburg, KS on February 19th, 2015 at the age of 60 after a yearlong struggle with pancreatic cancer. Earl was born November 8th, 1954 in Rockford, IL.

After several years of changing cities every few years his family settled in Calamine, AR. Watching the local ABC channel, he developed his lifelong love of cheesy horror movies. He had a devotion to learning, as a child he asked to be bussed a half hour away to a larger school in Cave City, AR, so that he could be better prepared for the future. In 1972, he went to Lyon College to study Western Literature, where he wrote columns for the college newspaper. In 1975, he went to the University of Arkansas in Fayetteville, AR to begin his masters in English literature. It was in the master's program that he met his future wife Kathy De Grave. He graduated from U of A in 1978 with his Master of Arts and he married Kathy. Earl went on to get his high school teaching certification in 1982, but ultimately decided that his true calling lay in working with books. In 1985, he graduated with his Masters of Library and Information Studies at the University of Wisconsin – Madison. After graduating with his MLS he took his first library job at Phillips University in Enid, OK in 1986. In 1987 he took a new job as acquisitions librarian at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS. He was an active faculty member at Pitt State for over 25 years including involvement in the faculty senate, and he eventually reached the rank of University Professor. He worked tirelessly to curate the book collection at Pitt State, always seeking to find balance within the collection.

Although he thoroughly enjoyed his work in the library, his true passion was always writing. Over the course of his career he wrote many articles on religion and censorship that have appeared in The Humanist, Religious Humanism, Freethought Today, Truth Seeker, The Match! American Libraries, You Are Being Lied to, and Counterpoise. He has also written a number of books including fiction: Drakulya and Raptured: The Final Daze of the Late, Great Planet Earth, and non-fiction: Libraries Betrayed, Libraries in the Age of Mediocrity and his most recent book from Park Street Press, From the Bodies of the Gods. He also rewrote his novel Drakulya into a play that was put on by the Pitt State communications department in 2001. He was also well known for his contributions to the foreword of The Jungle: the Uncensored Original Edition. Before he died, he had just finished writing a new novel, "The Unkindness of Ravens: An Alternative Romance of the Late War", which will be available in the fall of 2015.

Earl was well known for his unique sense of humor, his kindness, and his generosity. For all his academic achievement, when asked what he valued most in life, he said it was his family.
He was preceded in death by his father Early Ray Lee.

He is survived by his wife Kathy De Grave, and three children Nathan, Cambria, and Erin De Lee, his mother Opal Lee, and his siblings, Brian Lee, Cara Dickison, and Andy Lee. His wife, mother, siblings, and children all miss him dearly.

A memorial service for Earl will be held at the Leonard H. Axe Library at 5:30 p.m. on Friday, February 27th, 2015. Please send flowers or plants to the Leonard H. Axe Library. Earl has always been a defender of the First Amendment. If you would prefer to send a donation, please donate in his name to the Freedom to Read Foundation (http://www.ftrf.org/?page=Donate) by clicking on the Memorials link.
Published in Morning Sun on Feb. 24, 2015

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Contributed on 3/6/17 by denise.bratcher63
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