The Charles w. & NANCY I. DEE
MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND

Charles William Dee, Sr. was born in Concord, Massachusetts on November 11, 1923, the first son of five children born to Agnes C. O’Dowd Dee and James H. Dee. A third generation Concordian, he was a descendant of industrious, hardworking Irish immigrants who came to Concord by way of Charlestown and Lincoln in search of good farmland. Charlie grew up working on his grandfather’s asparagus farm on Bedford Street, and to earn extra money he and friends gave tours of Sleepy Hollow Cemetery on weekends.

Directly after graduating from Concord High School where he co-captained the 1942 football team under Coach Bernie Megan, Charlie enlisted in the World War II Army Air Corps and was stationed with the Eighth Air Force in Northampton, England. His 442nd Bomb Group, known as the “Carpetbaggers,” aided the French resistance in their fight for liberation, and their unit was later awarded the “Croix de Guerre” medal for acts of heroism. Upon returning from his overseas service, he attended and graduated from the New England Institute of Anatomy and, following family tradition, joined the Dee Funeral Home as a third generation funeral director in Concord.

Charlie met and subsequently married Nancy Sealey, a graduate of Burdett Business School in Boston. Married for 57 years, they shared a tremendous sense of family, faith, humor and civic responsibility. Nancy worked alongside Charlie as secretary for the Dee Funeral Home from 1947 until her retirement. They were a great team, serving families from Concord and surrounding towns.

Nancy and Charlie continued throughout their lives their active involvement in church and local civic groups such as Knights of Columbus, Sodality, Rotary, Concord Musketaquid and Rod & Gun clubs, and the Sleepy Hollow Cemetery Committee. They were life members of the Concord Antiquarian Museum and charter members of the Thoreau Foundation and Lyceum.  Charlie served as Sealer of Weights and Measures for the Town of Concord and Veterans Agent, initiating the tradition of placing 13 star flags on the graves of Revolutionary War soldiers in Concord.

Charlie and Nancy received Concord’s highest honor as they were named the Town’s Honored Citizens in 1997, a tribute they accepted with humble appreciation and gratitude. Nancy died in 2004; Charlie died in 2012. They rest in peace in their beloved Concord in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery.