“Stay safe and don’t overdo it,” advised Lee Carroll, “especially if you’re out working in the heat.”
Lee Carroll has to remember this advice each day as he and his crew are working hard. In fact, not only does he have to remember his own advice while working, but he also has to remember it while he is doing the things he loves.
He has always been a hard worker and has a history of working in various places throughout the county.
“I came to Clarke County at nine years old. I was born in Yazoo City, Mississippi, and came here when I was nine. I went to Enterprise schools. I didn’t graduate, but I got my GED later on. I worked with Clarke County for a while and was laid off there, so I wound up driving a truck across country for about eight to ten years. I went and worked at the scrapyard a little while and then worked for the Town of Stonewall for a little while. I wound up going back to the scrapyard for more money,” informed Lee. “Now, I’m back in Stonewall again. I’m the Public Works Director for the Town of Stonewall. I’m in charge of a couple guys and am their leader, but I don’t have to babysit them. They know what to do, and we all work together. I do one thing while they do their thing, and it all comes together. I do get into the water and sewer side of it since we only have one water works operator. We help him out when he needs help, and it’s called cross working since we work together.”
His strong work ethic is something that he inherited from his father. After watching and learning from his father for so many years, he has the same motto when it comes to his work that his dad always told him.
“I always learned from my daddy that if you do something right the first time, then you should never have to do it again. I got my work ethics from my father. He was a hard worker and always believed in doing it right,” explained Lee. “Now, if it’s within my power, I try to do everything right the first time so that I don’t have to go back in and do it again. Whatever I do, I give it my 100 percent.”
Although Lee does invest a lot of time in his work and takes pride in what he does, he does have a family that he loves to be able to spend time with whenever he is able.
“I married an awesome lady, Sheila Carroll, and we had three boys. They’re all grown and gone, and now we have grandbabies running around all over the place,” said Lee. “I enjoy them when they come down.”
Outside of work and family, Lee does have different hobbies that he enjoys. Although he doesn’t do it all the time, he even self-taught himself one of his hobbies: aluminum welding.
“I like to do aluminum welding, like on aluminum boats and stuff, when I have time. I self-taught myself how to do aluminum welding. I googled how to do it. I would always have to have aluminum welding done in Meridian when I worked for the scrapyard and said that with as much money as they make, I needed to learn how to do that. I bought a welding machine and started, and then I turned around and bought another welding machine to do it better,” expressed Lee. “I got one of the guys I knew at the plant that used to be across the street from Meridian Honda to let me borrow a welding helmet and watched him weld an aluminum oil pan up. It can be expensive with the equipment, but as far as the work, everything has to be clean. It can’t have fingerprints or anything. It has to be spotless for it to weld correctly, so it’s a lot different than steel.”
He may not always have a welding job to do, but Lee is a jack of all trades and has some more hobbies that frequently give him something to do.
“I love to fish, hunt, reload bullets, and target practice. I will load bullets for me and some other people a good bit. They just have to pay for the materials like the shells, powder, and all that. I do all my mechanic work at home. I used to do it for a living, but now I just help friends out,” stated Lee. “I try to stay hunting and fishing. I’m in a hunting club out in Elwood, and it’s the greatest group of people I’ve ever hunted with.”
He is very close with the others in his hunting club. In fact, they introduced him to fishing on the Tombigbee and helped create some of his favorite memories from fishing.
“I went fishing on the Tombigbee with two men and a lady from the hunting club and caught a lot of big fish. We ran trot lines. I didn’t have any idea originally. I’d heard them talk and brag about it until I decided to get involved in it,” recalled Lee. “It was a lot of working cleaning all those fish, because we caught a boatload of fish, some of them 50 pounds. I’ve been over there two times with them, and the same thing happened both times.”
While he has made many great memories hunting with his buddies in the hunting club, Lee always goes back to his time with his dad when he thinks about hunting. His dad taught him much more than just how to have a strong work ethic, and it has brought about some of his favorite hunting memories.
“My favorite memory of hunting was my daddy teaching me to shoot a deer while running with a shotgun and a rifle. It took me years to master that after he had explained it to me 100 times. He knew what to do and how to do it, but it just took me a long time to catch on to it. I’d watched him do it a million times,” remembered Lee. “He finally explained it again, and it made a lot of sense. Then, I tried it, and it happened like it was supposed to. I’ve killed a lot of deer running since then. The running part is what’s amazing. You have to lead and know how far the deer is and how far to lead. My daddy was Mr. Independent and taught me the best and only way to do it, and it’s become a great success in my life.”
Lee stays busy every day and doesn’t like to stay still for very long. One thing is for sure, though. He will always work hard and enjoy time with his family and friends doing what he loves outdoors.
