After many years growing up in town and wanting to be a police officer since he was a young boy, Shawn Lee fulfilled his dream and was appointed as a full time officer for the Town of Wilmington in July of 2001.
Having dutifully spent many years serving his country in the USAF, Officer Lee still desired to give back even more to his community. Shawn attended the Reading Police Academy, and then hit his home town streets doing what he so longed to do.
Shawn married his loving wife Lisa and raised two wonderful kids in town, and was never satisfied just “being a cop.” Shawn was at the epicenter of conversations around the station, always challenging himself and his peers, pushing for positive change. Shawn exemplified the true spirit of policing in how he treated the folks he met up with in the course of his duties. Although Shawn enjoyed his enforcement role, he respected his fellow community members and embraced his responsibility as a true public servant, and was always quick to lend a helping hand.
Shawn viewed his role on the Wilmington Police Honor Guard as a duty and a responsibility. This is not to say that Shawn viewed it as a chore, bur rather as an honor to demonstrate his level of service to his fellow man and brother and sister police officers. The sense of responsibility Shawn felt was more a sense of desire, pride and honor to represent our department at dedications and memorial events. He was often the first to volunteer, true to his nature as a human being.
In early 2011, Shawn was diagnosed with acute leukemia and the disease aggressively challenged Shawn’s body. Never one to give up, Shawn met this challenge head on. Shawn fought a heroic fight, and did so with dignity, bravery, and a remarkably positive attitude – traits forgotten by many of us in less dire circumstances. This was Shawn’s lesson to us all. His positive attitude, selflessness, and giving nature are an inspiration to all of us who were fortunate enough to know him.
Unfortunately in December of 2011, just a day after his 39th birthday, Shawn lost his hard fought battle with his illness - surrounded by family and close friends.
His feisty character, brilliant smile and contagious spirit lives on in his family, his brother and sister officers, and the community he served. For if you knew Shawn, you had fond memories of a truly remarkable man who loved his community and his fellow man, and he demonstrated this through his unselfish acts of public service on a daily basis.
|
