From the Summer 2024 issue of The Independent magazine. 

Mrs. Lucille Thomas Lea is from Raleigh, North Carolina, and spent most of her professional career working abroad at our U.S. Embassies, and in Washington, DC. She considers her work in the field of funeral service to be her calling, a ministry, to be exact, not a second career. 

Mrs. Lea's first career was in foreign affairs and international management, where she was a member of the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service, Diplomatic Corps. One of the first Black women to pursue a career in the field of diplomacy, Mrs. Lea rose quickly through the ranks from Junior Officer to Senior Foreign Service Officer. Prior to joining the Department of State, Mrs. Lea was a researcher at the U.S. Library of Congress in Washington D.C. 

Serving in the Department of State in Washington, D.C. and at U.S. Embassies abroad, she was frequently the most senior ranking minority woman in the country where she was assigned. At the U.S. Embassy in Ottawa, Canada, where she was Minister-Counselor for Administrative Affairs, she managed large, multi-lingual and multi-cultural staffs of four hundred plus, and managed multi-million dollar budgets. 

Her position required that she travel across Canada from Vancouver in the West to Halifax in the East. She was also the most senior ranking minority at the U.S. Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. 

Mrs. Lea's first assignment to the U.S. Embassy in Paris, France was followed by assignments to U.S. Embassies in Tunis, Tunisia (North Africa), and Dakar, Senegal (West Africa). While working in France, Mrs. Lea travelled widely throughout Europe. During her career, Mrs. Lea conducted official diplomatic missions to Egypt, Mexico, Panama, El Salvador, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Mauritania, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, The Gambia, Ivory Coast, Cameroon, Kenya, Rwanda, Burundi, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, and Nepal. 

Now a funeral director at Lea Funeral Home in Raleigh, North Carolina, Mrs. Lea considers it a blessing to be able to use her skills in the funeral service field. Her foreign affairs background has enabled Lea Funeral Home to broaden its services to the growing international community in Raleigh and the surrounding areas. The funeral home has served local families originally from Europe, Asia, Africa, South and Central America, and the Caribbean. They have become experts in arranging for the return of remains back to their home countries. 

Today, Lea Funeral Home is recognized as the premier expert in handling State Funerals for dignitaries where attention to detail is critical. That same attention to detail, however, is accorded every family served. A warm and caring individual, Mrs. Lea believes that we all need a hug and a shoulder to lean on in times of sorrow. 

To read more about Mrs. Lucille Lea, check out the Summer 2024 issue of The Independent magazine.