By Richard Carrier
Contributing Writer

After a 38-year career in Human Services Lee Burgin, Powhatan County Director of Social services, is retiring.

Mr. Burgin assumed the directorship of Powhatan County Social Services in 2003 and stewarded both the growth of the department as well as its staff. Five new staff members have been added since his arrival; bringing the total to 20, a Domestic Violence program and participation in the Powhatan Community Action Program have been added to his department in the past year.

Mr. Burgin hopes that his legacy will be not only the growth of both staff and Social Services’ interaction with the community, but also “the staff being given a greater level of responsibility and handling that responsibility beautifully. They have been a wonderful, dedicated and very professional staff and get the credit for our success,” he said.
Since coming aboard, he sees the biggest change in the operation of the department as “a greater engagement of staff and their professional and personal investment in the operation and success of the department.”

Mr. Burgin obtained his undergraduate degree from Eastern New Mexico University in 1968 and his Masters from Virginia Commonwealth University in 1987. He joined the Department of Social Services in Charlotte North Carolina in 1971 and moved on to Social Services in Christiansburg, Virginia in 1982. From 1990 to 94 he worked as a Family Therapist in Roanoke’s court system. Starting in 1994 he rounded out his resume in private practices in Roanoke, Newport News and Kilmarnock, Virginia until he came to Powhatan in 2002.

Mr. Burgin was born in South Carolina and grew up in North Carolina. He is married to Pamela McCune and they have one son, Tony age 46.

Mr. and Mrs. Burgin plan to travel extensively after his December 31, 2009 retirement date.

They will warm up with a trip to California in February, followed by chaperoning their grandson on a Disney World excursion. Then it is on to serious globe trotting in Africa, the Himalayas and Europe.