It is with profound sadness that Blue Heron Realty Co. announces that its founder and, until recently, its principal broker, Mr. Lemoin B. Cree, passed away Sept. 28, 2020, at Sentara Virginia Beach hospital. A Shore resident for 35 years, Lemoin was well regarded as a kind and helpful man, a truly talented and creative person, bursting with ideas and full of energy. He is survived by his beloved wife, Marlene Cree, and their five children, Scott Anderson, Montaigne Cree, Heather Brady, Nicole Killebrew, and Barrett Cree, as well as six grandchildren and three great-grandchildren, all from the Shore.
Lemoin loved the Eastern Shore and strived every day to be supportive of his family and the community, to help where he could, to work hard, to try always to do the right thing, and to be an encouraging leader for members of his firm.
A graduate of the University of Colorado, he went on to serve in the U.S. Army before starting in business as an editorial writer for a national trade association. That led to a lifelong interest in writing, eventually resulting in writing a book about the Eastern Shore.
At Blue Heron Realty, one of his key roles was as the “Solution Finder-In-Chief” who believed that inter-company cooperation and collaboration was key to running a successful business. Lemoin was trusted implicitly by his clients who appreciated his candor and optimistic personality. He was also instrumental in the design, development, and marketing of several little communities in Northampton County including Shooting Point, Wellington River Woods, Bay Vistas, and others. He believed in good design because it would create an attractive place to live, enhance the topography of the property, and protect the environment. In keeping with the concerns of the Chesapeake Bay Foundation, he particularly tried to incorporate the use of swales to reduce sedimentation runoff into the Bay.
A determined survivor of lymphoma, CML, heart disease, and plagued in recent years by macular degeneration, he remained the indispensable leader of the Blue Heron team.
Lemoin Cree was an exceptional person with a compassionate heart, a great sense of humor, and a love of relating stories shined up with a bit of the blarney. He shall be truly missed at Blue Heron Realty and beyond.
