Lee R Ledbetter

Our dad, Lee R. Ledbetter, 93, died Friday, July 19 at Allegro Senior Living, Fleming Island, FL.  He is survived by his children Skip (Joanne) of Phoenixville, PA, Holly (Joe Solsona) of Green Cove Springs, FL, Editha (Jesus Lavandera) of Vero Beach, FL, Greta (David Peterson) of Waxhaw, NC, 9 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren, sisters Verlon Trozal (Pensacola, FL) and Lola Jean Macaleer (West Chester, PA), and a rather extended family as he was one of nine.  He was preceded in death by his wife Georgia (2008), his parents, all 3 of his brothers, and three of his sisters.

Dad was born in 1926 on a Suwannee County farm near Rocky Sink, FL (Live Oak is the nearest big town).  He graduated from Suwannee High School; Class of 1943 having failed to convince a Navy recruiter he was 18 following the attack on Pearl Harbor (he was 15, and looked younger than that).  After high school, he worked for a short time at the Naval Air Rework Facility at NAS Jacksonville, rebuilding fighter planes damaged in battle.  A Navy recruiter asked him if he’d rather be flying the planes than fixing them, and signed Dad up for flight school in 1943.  As pilots would be commissioned officers and therefore needing a college degree, the Navy sent him first to the University of Miami (FL) and then Tulane University, where he graduated in 1946, the first of his family to earn a college degree.  He also married his high school sweetheart Georgia in 1946. As the war had ended and the need for new pilots over, Dad parleyed his 6-year obligation to the Navy into a 20-year career in the Supply Corps, retiring as a Lieutenant Commander in 1966.  Courtesy of the Navy, he and our mom (and us children, as we arrived) lived in New Jersey, Kansas (Skip & Holly), Alabama, Georgia, Japan (Editha), California (Greta), Virginia (again) and Florida.

The transition from the military to the private sector is challenging, but Dad was helped in this by a previous commander who offered him an administrative position in 1966 at Manatee Junior College in Bradenton, FL.  To avoid moving his family across the state, Dad obtained a similar position in 1968 at Florida Junior College in Jacksonville, when their facilities were expanding into the “temporary” World War II military housing along US17 near Edgewood Ave.

At 41, Dad started his second career by following up on a neighbor’s suggestion to look into the health care industry.  Medicare had just been enacted, and the resulting opportunities and complexities this offered were not well understood but appeared sizable.  One of Dad’s prospective customers was Memorial Medical Center, then under construction in Jacksonville.  By investing in understanding the complexities of Medicare, Dad help Memorial obtain the approvals needed for the suites of X-Ray equipment the hospital required.  As the hospital needed a Director of Finance, Memorial decided that the guy who understood Medicare might just be what they needed and hired him in 1969.  He was their CFO until 1974.

In the early 1970s, Dad became aware of the efforts local Orange Park, FL physicians Hinson Stephens, MD (the Ledbetter’s family doctor), Raleigh Thompson, MD, and Tom Harden, DO were making to improve the hospital services for their patients.  The physicians were struggling to obtain regulatory approvals for a new hospital and asked Dad for help.  This began a long series of breakfast meetings (on the way to work at Memorial) and after work meetings (on the way home).  With the building of a not-for-profit hospital blocked, the physicians began negotiating for an investor-owned hospital chain (Humana, now HCA) to build and lease/operate a hospital on land the physicians owned.  The negotiations were successful, and Humana Hospital - Orange Park opened In October 1974, with Dad as its first Executive Director (CEO).  The hospital’s successful opening, obtaining accreditation in the first year of operation, and continual expansion led Humana to promote Dad in 1981 to Senior Vice President, Florida Region (which included the Greater Orange Park Community Hospital (new name) and 16 other hospitals around Florida).  In 1986, Dad began planning for retirement and stepped back from the Region to resume his Executive Director role at Humana Hospital - Orange Park.  In 1992, he retired. Dad’s second greatest enjoyment (after his family) came from watching the hospital meet the ever-growing needs of the Orange Park area as first envisioned by Dr. Stephens, Dr. Thompson, and Dr. Harden.  As Dad’s health deteriorated, he added to his enjoyment by experiencing that vision as a patient.  He felt blessed with his opportunities, but doubly blessed to see the outcomes.

Now, about that family.  Our earliest memories are of extended family get togethers.  First these were centered on our grandparents, aunts and uncles and cousins in and around Live Oak.  Then, beginning with our parent’s 50th anniversary in 1996, we began to get together with our spouses and children.  So, our parents could get to know their grandchildren, and these cousins could get to know each other, Dad arranged for us to spend a week together every year somewhere.  We started at Crescent Beach, FL, but given how spread out our families were, shifted to North Carolina.  Emerald Isle, NC was a favorite until Dad’s health failed.  We were able to find large enough houses so that all of us could stay and eat together.  In 2019, we moved the location to St. Augustine Beach so Dad could still be a part of things.  Over the years, Dad’s grandchildren began to get married and now a growing number of great-grandchildren know him and their growing crowd of cousins and aunts and uncles and great-aunts and great-uncles.  Dad was a pretty savvy investor, but he claimed the investment in these vacations was the best one he ever made.

Dad was a member of Rotary International through the Rotary Club of Orange Park from 1969, served as its President in 1974, and was a Paul Harris Society Fellow.  An avid Bridge player all his adult life, in recent years he could be found at the The Shepard’s Center until a stroke and physical infirmities cramped his style. Dad was a member of the Grace Anglican Church, 5804 Highway 17, Fleming Island, FL 32003 (904) 541-1234. 

A memorial service will be held at Grace Anglican Church on August 5, 2019 at 11:00 am with Pastor Gus Richard officiating. Burial will be private at Magnolia Cemetery, 1040 Kingsley Avenue, Orange Park, Florida 32073.

 In lieu of flowers, please feel free to make a donation to Grace Anglican Church, Rotary Club of Orange Park (P.O. Box 445, Orange Park, FL 32067) or a charity of your choice.