Lee was born June 16th, 1938, in St. Louis, Missouri. Upon graduation from high school, he enlisted into the United States Marine Corps, where he served for two years. After completing his military service, he worked as an engineer on the new Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel. Lee was incredibly proud of his work on the Chesapeake Bay Bridge, and he was even the first person to completely walk across the bridge when it was finished in 1964! Lee worked his way up in the construction industry for the next 16 years, preparing him to become the founder of Seamless Systems, a commercial roofing company, in 1980.
In his early sixties, Lee fulfilled his lifelong desire to be cattle rancher. He purchased a 750-acre ranch in Hazen, Arkansas, where he spent the next 20 years buying and selling cattle. Purkey Ranch was a source of great pride and joy for Lee in his later years, along with spending summers with his family at his lake property in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
Lee was a faithful member of Bellevue Baptist Church in Memphis, Tennessee, where he participated in the prison ministry and in an international mission trip to South America. While these things provided Lee with much fulfillment, nothing was more important to him than his relationship with his Savior and his great love for his family.
Lee was preceded in death by his parents, Lee Purkey Sr. and Marie Purkey, his sister Gloria Hansen, brother David Purkey, and his beloved first grandchild, Bailey Grace Purkey.
Lee is survived by his wife Connie Purkey, his children Randy Lee Purkey (Gretchen), Dustin James Purkey (Lori), Katie Marie Burstyne (Joey), his sister Glenda Warren (Paul), and seven treasured grandchildren.
The family will receive friends on Tuesday May 16, 2023 beginning at 10:30 a.m. at Crossroads Baptist Church, 125 S Houston Levee Road, Eads, Tennessee. Funeral services will begin at 11:30 a.m.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Small Cell Ovarian Cancer Foundation at www.smallcellovarian.org.
