George P. Lee

George Patrick Lee (March 23, 1943 – July 28, 2010) was the first Native American to become a general authority of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church).

Early life Lee was born in Towaoc, Colorado, to Mae K. Lee of the clan, and to a Medicine Man, Peter Lee , of the Under the Flat-Roofed House People clan. One of 17 children from his parents' marriages, Lee was called (Little Boy), until he was given a sacred name, (Boy Who is Well Behaved and Good).

When he was 12 years old, Lee became one of the first children to participate in an official Indian foster placement program sponsored by the LDS Church. Lee was transported to Orem, Utah, where he lived with the Glen and Joan Harker family. Lee remained in their home for seven years, returning to his Navajo family during summer vacations, until he graduated from Orem High School in 1962.

Early adulthood Lee attended Brigham Young University, where he earned a bachelor's degree and later a doctorate in Educational Administration, and Utah State University, where he completed a master's degree. He was the first general authority to be excommunicated since 1943, when apostle Richard R. Lyman was excommunicated for adultery and unlawful cohabitation. The church did not publicly respond to Lee's letters or his public comments, since it is the church's policy not to publicize the details of an excommunicant's behavior which brought about the disciplinary action.

In 1993, the Salt Lake Tribune reported that Lee had attempted to sexually molest a minor girl in 1989, and that this was one of the reasons for Lee's excommunication. Initially, Lee denied the charges; however, on October 12, 1994, the Tribune reported:

On July 27, 2007, Lee was arrested in Washington County, Utah, for failing to register as a sex offender in the state of Utah. The police reported that Lee had not registered since 2001 and that he had been "living in an area with several young children in close proximity." Lee was booked into Purgatory Correctional Facility in Hurricane, Utah on $5,000 bail. due to these issues and Lee eventually registered with the sex offender registry. One year later, on March 29, 2009, Lee was removed from Utah's sex offender registry.

Death Lee died in Provo, Utah on July 28, 2010, from "a long battle with physical problems". After his death, Latter-day Saint sociologist Armand Mauss described Lee as "one of the truly tragic figures in modern Mormon history".

Publications George P. Lee, Silent Courage: An Indian Story: The Autobiography of George P. Lee, a Navajo, Deseret Book: Salt Lake City (1987).