Norvel LaFallette Ray Lee (1924-1992)
Historical highway marker D-5 · Botetourt County
Norvel Lee was born in Botetourt County and grew up a mile northeast of here. He joined the Army Air Forces in 1943, was trained in Tuskegee, AL, and later retired from the Air Force Reserve as a lieutenant colonel. In 1948, Lee was arrested in Covington for refusing to leave the whites-only section of a train car. The Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals reversed his conviction in 1949 on the grounds that the state could not enforce segregation laws on a local train if the passenger held a ticket for interstate travel. In 1952, Lee earned an Olympic gold medal in boxing in Helsinki, Finland. A graduate of Howard University, he was later a corrections officer and educator in Washington, D.C.
Department of Historic Resources, 2021