Asked what he is most proud of, Kokomo’s Rev Robert A. Lee pauses and reflects. The answer comes firmly and strongly: “The fact that God has used me to be an enabler of people.” Selection as a Howard County “Legend” is the latest of a multitude of honors that have come his way over the years. Medals for his service as a Green Beret and combat medic during the Vietnam War; citations for his decades of work for the Baptist Church locally, statewide and internationally; community service awards from Indiana Black Expo, the NAACP, Boy Scouts of America, Grissom Air Force Base and the City of Kokomo; honors from Indiana University Kokomo and Ivy Tech Community College Kokomo; Indiana’s highest honor, the Sagamore of the Wabash, from Gov. Eric Holcomb. And what ties them all together? The common denominator is what Rev. Lee wants to be remembered for: helping others, enabling their success, leaving a good imprint on the lives of all he meets.

It was a path that started on the northeast side of Indianapolis more than 75 years ago where he grew up steeped in his family’s Missionary Baptist tradition. It was at New Bethel Missionary Baptist Church that a 6-year-old Robert A. Lee and a 5-year-old Clementine Barrow met and what Rev. Lee calls the “centrality of his life” – faith and family – took root.

For 55 years, “Tina” has been at his side as his “helpmeet,” as they raised son Robert Clemont Lee and daughter Angela Kristine Lee; as he pursued his education (a certificate in chemical technology from IUPUI and bachelor’s master’s and doctoral degrees in theology from the Central Baptist Theological Seminary of Indiana, the International Bible Institute and Seminary, and Simmons Bible College); and as he served as Minister of Education and Youth at New Bethel and then at Kokomo’s Second Missionary Baptist.

Through God’s calling and a vote by the Second Missionary Baptist congregation, Rev. Lee and his family came to Kokomo in 1981 and his decades of service to his adopted hometown began. Within the church, he led construction of a new facility across North Apperson Way from the original structure, designing it based on scriptural descriptions of the Old Testament Tabernacle and in the Missionary Baptist faith tradition.

As president and CEO of RALM (Robert A. Lee Ministries), he is a nationally recognized pastorteacher who has lectured and conducted leadership workshops all across the country and across denominational lines. He has preached in Haiti, Jamaica, Nigeria, Mozambique, and Israel.

In the broader Kokomo community, he led the efforts of the Adelphos Ministerial Society to address racism and bring all parts of Kokomo together in conversation and fellowship. He served 20 years on the Kokomo Park Board and eight years as Center Township Trustee and has been master chaplain of the Kokomo Police Department and member of boards and advisory boards from the NAACP to St. Joseph Hospital to IU Kokomo.

Now retired, for the last two years Rev. Lee has had to focus on health issues he believes can be traced in part to exposure to Agent Orange in Vietnam. But he remains committed to finding new ways to share his faith; to deal with concerns that range from faith to culture and education to economics; and, as always, to be of help to others.