We regret to report that Covid-19 claimed the life of elementary math and physical education teacher Rodney Lee of Dalton, Georgia, on September 6, 2021. Photo credit: Photo credit: Dalton Citizen.

We regret to report that Covid-19 has claimed the life of yet another beloved educator. Rodney Lee, an elementary school teacher from Georgia, succumbed to the disease on September 6, 2021. He was only 44 years old.

Rodney taught physical education at Varnell Elementary School in Dalton.  His wife, Lacey Lee, said her husband enjoyed young people. “He loved working with them, and it was really important to him to be a good role model for them,” she recalled.

Rodney inaugurated his career as an educator a math teacher. “He taught in middle school for one year and decided that wasn’t for him and went back to elementary school,” Lacey says. “Then the opportunity to become a physical education teacher came up, and he took it. That’s what he taught for the last 12 years or so,” she continued. “He was a great math teacher, but he just loved PE,” she concluded. In 2018, the fallen educator was recognized as the school’s Teacher of the Year. His career as a teacher spanned 18 years.

Rodney and Lacey met when they were both education students at Lee University in Cleveland, Tennessee. “There was a student-teaching abroad program,” Lacey remembered. “We both signed up for it, and we both spent about eight weeks teaching in England and got to know each other and fell in love.”

In addition to teaching, Rodney coached travel softball, basketball, and baseball. He was active with Georgia Baptist Disaster Relief and Georgia Baptist Builders, an organization which helps the needy with construction projects. “He would work on cars (for those in need),” remembered friend Allee Worley. “He would work on air conditioners. He would build wheelchair ramps. And he did everything with a cheerful attitude and a smile on his face,” she said.

To read more about Rodney Lee, see this article published by the Dalton Citizen.