Lee Homer Wesley

Lee Wesley

Funeral services for Dr. Lee Homer Wesley, of San Diego, California, will be at 11 AM on Saturday, July 27, 2019, at the Saint James CME Church, 1608 Lovett Road in East Dublin, Georgia. The family will receive friends from 10-11 AM prior to the service. ,

Dr. Wesley was born as Lee Homer Wesley in Macon Georgia, in 1933. He married his wife, Elaine, in 1957 at Saint Paul’s Church in New York. Dr. Wesley received his Bachelor of Science Degree from Upsala College in East Orange, New Jersey, in 1954. Unable to find work in his field., he felt called to seminary. He attended the Augustana Theological Seminary in Rock Island, Illinois, from which he earned his Master of Divinity Degree in 1958. He was ordained into the ministry of the Augustana Lutheran Church in 1958. Upsala College conferred an honorary Doctor of Divinity Degree in 1982. He earned a Master of Social work Degree from the Hunter College School of Social Work in 1985.

Dr. Wesley served as Pastor of Immanuel Lutheran Church in Los Angeles, California, from 1958 to 1964. He was Secretary for the national LACK Youth Education for the Board of Parish Education from 1964 to 1968. From 1968 to 1972 he was Director of the “Justice and Social Change Program” of the national Lutheran Church in Americas (lace), Board of Social Ministry. He then became secretary for Special Ministries of the Division for Parish Services, lack from 1972 to 1974. He served as Division Director of Ken-Crest Centers in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania from 1974 to 1976. From 1976 to 1998 he served as President and CEO of Lutheran Social Services of Metropolitan New York.

Dr. Wesley also served as the volunteer President and CEO of several corporations created by Lutheran Social Services to provide certain new services, among them were; Lutheran Family and Community Services; The Muhlenberg Community; The New Times Plaza Operating Corporation as the General Partner of the Halle Housing Associates, L.P. He served as past Chairman and member of the Coalition of Executives and a Board member of its successor the Lutheran Services in America. Dr. Wesley also volunteered on the Interfaith Worldwide AIDS Organization. He was one of the founding members of African American Lutheran association. (A.A.L.A. Pastor Wesley was also part of a core group of Black Pastors who were among the first to enter be ordained and serve and in the Lutheran church in America. Dr. Wesley served on the church counsel of St. Johns Lutheran church in Manhattan. However, a new field called “foster care” had become the preferred way for New York City agencies to care for children in need of home placement and LCS entered into the foster care system. At that time, a new Chief Executive Officer (CEO), The Rev. Lee H. Wesley, was brought on board. Dr. Wesley retired in June 1998 , having served as President/CEO for 22 years. After his retirement he continued to serve as interim pastor at several New York congregations. He traveled worldwide with his wife, Elaine, but has always considered Georgia as his home. He spent his last years as a widower in San Diego California. Dr. Wesley passed away on July 14, 2019.

Pastor Wesley was preceded in death by his wife, Nancy Elaine, and is survived by his children, Lynnea (Rev. Dr. Michael) Wesley-Dickson, David (Rose) Wesley, and Lisa-Ann (Michael) Powe, and grandchildren, Sarah Lindsey Dickson, Michael Thomas Dickson, Erika Brianna Powe and Michelle Nicole Powe, and Roses’ grandniece Tiana Geter.

Please post condolences at ServicesByDudley.com. Services by Dudley Funeral Home of Dublin