Governor Bill Lee recounts family tragedy, faith and public service at national prayer breakfast

NASHVILLE — Governor Bill Lee recounted a string of personal tragedies and the role of faith in his life during remarks at a national prayer breakfast, saying those experiences led him into public service and shaped how he approaches pardons as governor of Tennessee.

"It's a real honor for me to be here," Governor Bill Lee said as he opened, explaining he had only learned the day before that he would speak. He described how some days become chapters of a life and then recounted a late July afternoon when he returned home to find his wife dead beside a horse, an event he said plunged his family into "grief and brokenness and sorrow." He also said his oldest daughter later survived an attempted suicide.

Those events, Lee said, moved him and his family toward healing through faith and service. He described taking his children on overseas mission and relief trips and working in education reform and prison mentoring programs, experiences he said eventually prompted him to seek the governorship. "This path of actually getting involved in public policy is what made me run for governor of Tennessee in the first place," he said.

As governor, Lee said he has granted pardons "many times in the last 7 years." He told one anecdote about inviting a man he planned to pardon to the governor's residence; the man said Lee had once spoken at a 2008 prison ministry event that the man had remembered and that the speech had moved him. Lee used the story to draw a contrast between the earthly pardons he can issue and the spiritual pardon he said is given only by Jesus: "The pardons that I give as governor are earthly pardons," Lee said. "And there is only 1 who can grant that pardon ... his name is Jesus."

The remarks mixed personal testimony and faith-based reflection with references to his administration: Lee cited the Department of Children's Services and adoption and flood response work as among the opportunities he has had as governor. He closed by thanking the audience for letting him share his story; brief affirmations and a "Thank you, governor. God has a plan," were audible from the audience.

The speech offers a window into how Lee describes the relationship between personal loss, religious conviction and his public-service priorities. He did not announce new policies or actions during these remarks.