Lee Anderson, who was buried Monday at age 90, was a newspaper man for 70 years.
For much of that time, he wrote conservative editorials for the Chattanooga Free Press based on opinions that came first from his heart and faith, second from his community and finally from his politics. Sometimes, of course, those things were one and the same.
Anderson loved to laugh, and with his characteristic old-south drawl, he would always tell you he married the boss’ daughter.
He was complicated, but at the same time, the heart of simplicity. In the 1960s, he was the voice of another time. The voice that opposed school integration and the civil rights movement. The voice that negated unions. The voice that supported Barry Goldwater.
But he also was the voice that unfailingly promoted faith, family and patriotism. He was warm, cordial and civil in his face-to-face discourse, often leaving those who talked with him feeling as though they’d just met a Confederate colonel and southern gentleman.