By Nordia Henry, Staff Reporter
George Lee holds up his precious black bag and brown pouch. - Michael Sloley /Freelance Photographer
HE IS a man with a vision who says that he meets his challenges head-on because he's a planner.
He has spent years dreaming and planning for the position he now holds. Recently George Lee, first Mayor of Portmore, St. Catherine, took time out to tell us what he would grab in the event of a fire.
Born June 2, 1939, in Bourbon, Portland, George Lee was raised in Bath, St. Thomas.
"I had a great childhood and I grew up in a town that I loved. I remember that we had a Botanical Garden and a Bath Fountain. When I was growing up in St Thomas the Garden was a thing of beauty."
On Sundays, busloads of people from all over the country would come to Bath, he recalls.
After Bath Elementary School, Lee passed his exam to attend Happy Grove High School in Portland as a paying student. However, the fee was too steep for his parents who instead sent him to Windsor High, a private high school in Kingston, which was less expensive.
LUCK CHANGES
After leaving Windsor High, he got his first job in public works, but started doing all the things a young man does at his age like drinking. That phase did not last for long. Lee decided to make better of his life and started studying on his own. He took five GCE subjects and passed. "Then, The Gleaner had an ad for journalists and I told myself that I wanted to be a journalist. They took 70 persons and I was among the 70. For four years I worked at The Gleaner as a political trainee reporter. After (that) I went to work at (the now-defunct) JBC (Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation) but was fired because of the Michael Manley strike. This ignited my keen interest in politics."
Lee has had an illustrious career in public service spanning more than 35 years, during which time he has headed numerous organisations at home and abroad. Over the past 10 years he has played a pivotal role in the development of Portmore, gaining the unofficial title 'Mr. Portmore'. For five years he was chairman of the Portmore Joint Citizens Association, an organisation he expanded into an effective lobby group which secured improvements for Portmore.
Lee is married and is the father of three children.
WHAT HE WOULD GRAB
Black bag...
It contains all his plans and visions for the development of Portmore.
Brown pouch...
which has credit cards, financial documents, cheque book and other personal items that he could not allow to burn.
