Leon “Lee” O. Maxwell III

Published 12:54 pm Friday, November 4, 2011

Nov. 23, 1941 –

Nov. 1, 2011

Services for Leon “Lee” O. Maxwell, III, 69, of Calvary, Ga., will be at 2 p.m. on Sunday, Nov. 6, 2011, at Calvary Baptist Church. Interment will follow in Piedmont Cemetery in Calvary. Active pallbearers will be Hansel Butler, Thomas Graef, Wesley Kever, Jason Lodge, Robbie Maxwell and Timothy Maxwell. Honorary pallbearers will be the Directors and men of Grady EMC.

Mr. Maxwell passed away on Tuesday, Nov. 1, 2011, at Tallahassee Memorial Hospital.

Lee, as he was more often referred to, was a resident of Calvary, and was a son of the late Leon O. Maxwell Jr. and Elizabeth Taylor Maxwell. After graduating from Cairo High School, Lee served in the U.S. Army for three years in Japan and Germany.

When he returned home, he continued his education at Georgia Southwestern College in Americus. Ga., where he received his Bachelor of Science degree in Economics and Business Administration. Following his graduation from college, Lee was employed by the International Harvester Corporation as a sales trainee in Miami, Fla., and as a sales representative in Savannah, Ga. After several years with International Harvester, he was employed by the U.S. Treasury Department as a special agent for the Division of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms. In this capacity he served for 11 years in various parts of the United States, including North Carolina, South Dakota and Arizona.

In 1976, he was assigned to Secret Service duty and accompanied George Wallace, Ronald Reagan, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter as a Secret Service agent. After his retirement from Civil Service in 1981, Lee managed L. O. Maxwell Farms, Inc., in Calvary. He served on the Grady EMC Board of Directors since 1992. Lee was a member of Calvary Baptist Church.

He is survived by a sister, Sue Graef of Calvary; brothers and sister-in-law, Walter Maxwell of Newnan, Ga., Timothy Taylor and Susan Worthy Maxwell of Lubbock, Texas; Aunt Dorothy Taylor Barone of Brunswick, Ga.; nephews, Thomas Graef (Kim) of Lutz, Fla., Timothy Taylor Maxwell Jr. (Mary-Helen) of Crandell, Texas, Wesley Kever (Kelly) of Villa Rica, Ga.; nieces, Heidi Lee Butler (Hansel) of Calvary, Wendy Maxwell Bullock (William) of Apollo Beach, Fla., and Robin Maxwell Sittré (Dennis) of Wolfforth, Texas.

The family will receive friends at the home of Sue Graef, located at 4576 Old 179 South, Whigham, GA.

Clark Funeral Home of Cairo, Ga., is in charge of the arrangements.