Negaunee's first school bus. (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

NEGAUNEE — Henry Lee was born in Germany in 1845. His family came to America when he was seven years old.They settled in Marquette and later moved to Negaunee.

There wasn’t a real school, but one was built on the Kirkwood homestead. Later the town hall was built and used as a school room.

Henry had little schooling and went to work at age 13 cutting wood. Then, he went to work at the Jackson Mine. Hoping to further his education he went to Milwaukee, but found he was too far behind and got discouraged and came back to Negaunee.

In 1873, he started a draying business and except for Sundays and holidays, his teams were busy hauling goods for his customers. In May 1878, Henry married Mary Mall who was a true pioneer of Negaunee, having been born here. They had 12 children, 10 who survived to adulthood: Albert, George, Harry, Roy, Rose, Maud Steele, Myrtle Wetton, John, Alice and Ethel Sykes.

Mr. Lee was a member of the fire department, where he served as chief and also as an alderman. He died in 1935. His sons took over the business, and Roy Lee, the youngest of the family, made a lifetime of serving the people of Negaunee. He was a transportation pioneer using his business to improve life in a mining town.

Roy Lee (Photo courtesy of the Negaunee Historical Society)

Roy left high school in the 11th grade to help his father. The company evolved into the Lee Brothers, with Roy and two of his brothers and three assistants. Though times were tough during the Great Depression, the business managed to survive. The Lees would deliver freight to stores from the incoming railroad cars, charging about a dollar for the work.

The goods had to be loaded by hand and two or three men were on any given job. Delivering furniture and similar items was only one part of the job. The Lees were also the only beer distributors in the city for many years. They made two weekly trips to Green Bay to stock up to supply Negaunee businesses.

During the 1930s, the beer that Lees handled were Rahr’s of Wisconsin and Bosch brewed by the Ruppe family. It was sold to the taverns for $1.60 a case. They made .50 cents on each case.

Besides moving goods and distributing beer, Roy Lee transported school children. In fact, he provided Negaunee Public Schools with its first school bus in 1930 and was their first bus driver. He purchased the bus from a man in Ishpeming for $5,000.

He leased the 60 seat International to the district and continued driving buses until his retirement in 1964. The bus put on 80 miles a day on three daily bus runs.There was no heater in that first bus so there were some pretty cold rides. He had to make a kid walk home once for lighting a match on the bus. (Keep in mind that bus didn’t make the long runs like today).

Normally he didn’t have any problems with the kids. In fact, on the last day of school, he treated them to ice cream for good behavior. After leaving Negaunee schools, he went to work for Marquette Public Schools serving in various capacities, including crossing guard until 1978.

Roy also was active in city politics from 1940-44.

The moving company disbanded in 1961. He also enjoyed horses and had one all his life. His love of horses and his hobby of restoring old sleighs came in handy at Christmas time. As he let his ponies and sleighs be used in the Christmas parade for Santa to ride in.