Chief David Lee of Suffolk will retire from the U.S. Coast Guard after 25 years of service. A celebration will be held on July 30 at the ISC Coast Guard Base in Portsmouth.

Lee began his Coast Guard career in 1980 and has been assigned at a variety of units. He started off in the black fleet with an assignment to CGC Sledge, then home ported in Portsmouth.

Lee cross-decked to CGC Kennebec when she moved her homeport to Portsmouth. He finished up his early Aids to Navigation experience with a year at Ant Kennebec.

In 1984, Lee showed his versatility and served at MSO Hampton Roads for three years. He then assisted in the Support field with a tour at Nesu on the assist team. Continuing to expand, Lee did a tour at Station Little Creek and them moved onto CGC Courageous in Panama City, Fla. He returned to the Hampton Roads area with a tour as an instructor at Yorktown followed by assignment to the CGC Northland.

After earning his Chief’s Anchors, Lee returned where he began. He has been serving as the Engineering Petty Officer of the Mighty Kennebec since May 2002. Through his career, Lee has accumulated more than 10 years of sea time, earned two Coast Guard achievement medals, two COMDT’s Letters of Commendation and eight Coast Guard good conduct medals, along with numerous unit awards.

Lee is a native of Indianapolis, Ind. and the son of Elizabeth P. Lee and the late Raymond Lee. He received his primary and secondary education in the public school system of Indianapolis. He graduated from the Coast Guard Chief Academy in 2002.

Lee was licensed as a minister in 1995 at Gethsemane Community Fellowship Baptist Church where he is currently one of the associate ministers and serves as the ministry leader of prayer.

He is married to the former Susan Ramona Waters. They are the proud parents of two sons, Michael, a fifth grade school teacher who currently resides in Lawrenceville, Ga., and David Jr., a senior at Norfolk State University.

Lee is a collector of light houses and plays the drums in his spare time.