Dr. Lori Jean LeMay

On April 24th, 2026, after over eight decades of life and learning, and in the peace of her creekside Newport home, Lori LeMay quietly moved on to her next adventure.

Lori was born September 19th, 1941, in East Plainfield, New Hampshire, and raised by Harry and Helen May in White River Junction, Vermont. As a carpenter and tinkerer, her father fostered a love of making and fixing things, as well as an appreciation for even the smallest of joys, values that would stick with Lori all her life.

While in high school, Lori excelled academically and was offered full scholarships to Dartmouth, Rutgers, and Penn State. However, while working as a waitress during her senior year, she caught the eye of a handsome sailor, Gene, who was in town visiting a Navy buddy. He sent her a tiny pencil and self-addressed postcard with a questionnaire about the degree to which she would like to see him again, with options ranging from “greatly” to “never again”, and her plans for higher education were postponed.

After marrying, Lori and Gene were stationed in a range of places, including Georgia, Maryland, Virginia, Florida, and Greece. As Gene was often deployed for long stretches of time, she spent her days raising their three daughters, Rebel, Kari, and Misty. She instilled in each of her daughters her unique combination of practicality, creativity, and an appreciation of nature. When Gene retired from the Navy, they opted for a slower, rural lifestyle, purchasing land, sight unseen, on Sinking Creek in Newport, Virginia. Over the next few years, they financed the building of their house by creating and selling folk art. It was during this time that the legendary swinging bridge was built across the creek. The house in the trees was a labor of love and, over many decades, family and friends contributed to its construction, taking breaks on hot days to cool off in the creek, or warm by the wood stove in the colder months.

Once the girls were in their teens, Lori returned to school to get the formal education she’d always wanted. She graduated from Radford University magna cum laude with degrees in Anthropology, Geography, and French. She then headed to Indiana University where she completed her Master’s in Ecological Anthropology with a secondary focus on Population Geography in the Department of Anthropology. She remained at Indiana University to complete her PhD on the population dynamics of Floyd County, Virginia, and, at 52, was awarded her doctoral degree. While finishing her dissertation, she worked temporarily for the Forest Service as a historian and as an Instructor at Radford University. After completion of her PhD, Radford hired her as an Assistant Professor, where she moved through the tenure ranks and worked until her retirement and transition to Professor Emeritus in 2005.

Her research and teaching at Radford centered on the Appalachian region, whether through investigating early mining sites in Virginia or exploring the role of the Civilian Conservation Corps in Appalachia, but she also traveled across the world with her students and colleagues, and occasionally for fun. She’d bring small souvenirs back to her daughters and grandchildren from her adventures across China, Russia, Egypt, or Ecuador, often inspiring them to do the same later in their lives. She was adamant that neither physical nor human geography alone could tell the whole story of a place, and she would do extensive research into both. If there were any questions that she couldn’t find answers to before a trip, she wasn’t shy about asking anyone once she was on the ground. Apologies to taxi drivers worldwide who found themselves on the receiving end of a string of questions like, “If I had a goat, how much could I sell it for right now?”

Much of her time in the '80s to early 2000s was spent with close friend and fishing partner, Calvin. She’d tell you that if you ever needed an escape, you just had to drive south until you liked the weather and then east until you hit the ocean. The tiny fishing village of Ocracoke, where Lori had already been going since the ‘70s, became their favorite fishing and camping destination. This eventually turned into an annual family trip and all of her grandchildren, and nearly all of her great-grandchildren, made the pilgrimage at least once to the little island off the North Carolina coast. For decades, during late June and early July, you could find her reading, cooking, fishing, or just chatting in the shade with her family and her collected Ocracoke family at the National Park Service campground.

While she didn’t fail at much, mostly on account of her tenacity, she failed spectacularly at retiring from teaching. After mere months, she returned to teaching online, through American Public University System, where she taught geography until she finally retired again at 83. Teaching was truly the love of her life, followed very closely by learning, and if you ever had a conversation with Lori, you know how excited she would get about any chance to teach someone something new, or learn something new. While at Radford, she was easily identifiable by her colorful long skirts, Birkenstocks, and earrings, and her teaching evaluations often cited this vibrant persona and passionate discussions of subject matter.

Lori’s hobbies and passions over the years read like they were drawn from a hat at random: fishing, painting, Tai Chi, wood carving, crocheting, amateur radio, spinning yarn, gardening, decorating, cooking, canning, playing bluegrass on her banjo, sewing, quilting, getting tattoos, collecting antiques, or spoiling the long-haired dachshunds that won the life lottery and ended up at her house. She also enjoyed the puzzles and word games that helped keep her sharp, and her desk was littered until the very end with scratch paper from doing so. While she loved French, she also studied Russian and Mandarin for work, and, given a few more years, probably would have taken on Portuguese for her granddaughter-in-law, just for fun. She was a sports fan and regularly tuned in to watch tennis and the X Games (she was particularly fond of Moto X and skateboarding). Lori was a fierce protector of the natural world, gently escorting many insects and creatures out of her house, or allowing others to take residence, like the raccoon Snooper that she and Gene once raised.

While health challenges kept her from being as active and traveling as much as she wanted in later years, you could still occasionally see her driving or riding across the creek to get groceries, joining a protest in Blacksburg or Floyd, or taking trips to visit grandchildren and great-grandchildren in northern Virginia, New Hampshire, or Maryland. Although she was softer than her New England shell let on, she was never a traditional grandmother. Gram, as she was called, was never going to pull a butterscotch out of her purse or take you for ice cream at the mall. However, she’d be the loudest at any kid’s baseball game, could help you change your oil or mow your yard, was the de facto family tutor, and her holiday meals varied depending on whatever international cuisine she’d most recently explored: moussaka, egg rolls, paella, tapas, tamales, pozole, etc. She showed her children and grandchildren that age and gender shouldn’t limit one’s work, skills, or hobbies. But most importantly, she taught them that there is no mandatory playbook or timeline for life; sometimes you take unexpected detours, but if you are tenacious enough, your goals and dreams are always within reach.

Lori LeMay will be very missed by her daughters, Rebel Cannan and Kari LeMay; grandchildren Michelle Cannan (Jimmy), David Cannan (Amber-Nicole), Atticus Stovall (Adrienne), Queena Stovall (Caryn), Summer Brown (Ryan), Cassie Brown, and Mark McIntyre (Mel); great-grandchildren Caileigh, Ashlynn, Moses, and Asa; as well as many other family members and friends scattered across the globe.

A celebration of life will be held on Sinking Creek at 2 PM on June 6th, 2026 at 37.303761, -80.486260 (across from the Newport Ballpark). All are welcome to join and share memories of Lori. In lieu of flowers, please consider sending memorial donations to The Ocracoke Working Watermen's Association or The Campaign for Female Education (CAMFED).  A guestbook is available to send condolences to the family by visiting www.kendallfuneralhome.com.  The staff of Kendall Funeral Home are honored to serve the LeMay family