Minnie Lee May McGehee

Minnie Lee May McGehee passed away November 21, 2019. She follows her parents: James Franklin May, Sr. and Sarah Jennie Garner May, her siblings Mary Frances Blodgett, Sarah Josephine Marshall, James Franklin May, Jr. and Samuel Stanley May and her husband Henry Corr McGehee. She is survived by her brother John H. May: his wife Mary Beth May;her children: Betty McGehee, Doris Edmund McGehee, WilliamOverton McGehee, his wife Theresa Carroll, granddaughters Mary Garner McGehee and Eva Jane McGehee and four generations of nephews and nieces. Minnie Lee was born on a farm at Carysbrook, February 22, 1924. She attended Judy Creek School and Fluvanna County High School. She earned an associate degree in business atMadison College in Harrisonburg. She married Navy Second-class Petty Officer Henry C. McGehee in March 1945. Their first home was in Franklin, VA. They came home to Fluvanna County in 1946 and joined Palmyra Methodist Church, where she taught Sunday School, Vacation Bible School and led the MYF at various times. She taught Typing and Shorthand at FCHS in 1946. Minnie Lee was appointed to be the first county-wide voting registrar for Fluvanna. After Virginia eliminated the poll tax in 1966, she had the privilege of registering many people who would vote for the first time. She worked part-time for Fluvanna County Social Services in the 1940s, 1970s and 1980s. In her last tenure there, she was a Medicaid eligibility worker. Minnie Lee began writing about Fluvanna in feature articles during the 1960s, while news correspondent for theCharlottesville Daily Progress. She was a founding member of Fluvanna Historical Society and helped create the Old Stone Jail Museum. Over a period of 57 years, she researched and wrote 35 publications of the Fluvanna Historical Society and edited many others. She particularly enjoyed collaborating with her friends David W. C. Bearr and the late Ellen Miyagawa. While a board member of the Virginia Canals and Navigation Society and active in the James River Batteau Festival, she compiled and edited a collection titled River Boat Echoes: Batteaux in Virginia. In 2003 Minnie Lee wrote Mr. Jefferson’s River: theRivanna, using years of research which she and her friend Dr. William E. Trout, III had done together on the river’s mills and navigation system. In order to preserve the natural beauty of the Rivanna and its well-preserved system of stone navigation locks, she appeared before the Virginia General Assembly and successfully petitioned to designate The Rivanna as the Commonwealth’s first Scenic River. Henry and Minnie Lee enjoyed canoeing on the Rivanna and James Rivers and taking walks in the woods searching for wildflowers, old house sites, and forgotten cemeteries. An avid gardener, Minnie Lee enjoyed visiting English gardens when she traveled to the UK. In recent years she concentrated on writing, enjoying her flower garden, reading and visiting with her granddaughters. ​The family is especially grateful to Jack Bruce, Larry Bruce, Dr. Randolph Lanford and Rose Anderson Scott. The family will receive visitors at Palmyra United Methodist Church 6:00 to 8:30 on Friday, November 29. A graveside service at Beulah Baptist Church Cemetery, 1633 Kents Store Way, will be at 11 a.m. on Saturday, November 30. A reception will follow at the Wilmington Club, 1083 Wilmington Road. In lieu of flowers, Minnie Lee would be pleased if donations were made in her memory to the Fluvanna Historical Society or the Palmyra Volunteer Fire Department.