I am Lee Cottrell

Welcome to my website.
This site is about me and my family.

Lee Cottrell at retirement party

Lee

Who I am is a complex question. I am continually redefining who I am. The external pressures of life change me daily. I am not the same person I was yesterday, and am not the person I will be tomorrow. While I am not the person I want to be, I am quite happy with myself.

People always ask me what I did before I retired. It is simple, I taught. I treated every moment as a teachable moment. In my previous job at Pittsburgh Technical College, and in previous schools, I tried to make the people around me more knowledgable. I believe that the more a person knows and experiences, the better prepared they are for handling the changes that life throws at them.

Now that I am single, I am finding my way. I am making time for myself. I am biking, painting, and spending time with my friends, old and new. I am helping to build a community garden with a few neighbors.

Laurie and Lee

Laurie

Unfortunately, Laurie passed away on May 4th, 2026. She suffered through a long and unidentified degenerative illness. She and I spent every day together. I like to think that she enjoyed the life we had. Unlike most people, Laurie died on her terms. If interested, here is a link to the memorial I gave at her funeral.

Laurie and I married on June 12, 1993. She enjoyed cross stitching, spending evenings with friends, reading, shopping and going for long drives in the car. We had quite a good life together. Despite the ups and downs, we stuck with each other.

We are an old fashioned family. We ate dinner together most nights, and tried to spend time together on the weekends. We tended to read the same books, and watch the same shows, giving us something to talk about. We bickered, but supported each other at all times.

Lizzie and Zach

Elizabeth

Lizzie was born February 8, 1998 and is an excellent teacher, and person. She loves to be active, travel, listen to music, and watch movies. Elizabeth rowed for Three Rivers Rowing and as a D1 athlete for Robert Morris University. In 2020, she spent several months student teaching in New Zealand.

Elizabeth graduated from Robert Morris University with a Bachelors Degree in Biology, and a PA Teachers Certificate. She currently is teaching Scienc at her alma matter, City Charter High School in Downtown Pittsburgh. This fullfilled a lifelong dream of being a teacher. She lives in Dormont with her boyfriend, Zach

Lizzie continues to thrive and grow. She rows with the masters program at Three Rivers Row. In 2025 she became the co-captain of her rowing team. She and Zach adopted a wonderful dog named Nahme. In 2026, just a week before Laurie passed, Lizzie graduated from Pitt with a Masters in Education.

Chris playing with his food

Chris

Chris was born August 17, 2002. In high school he was an excellent student, particularly in math. Chris is an athlete. He was a very talented soccer keeper and still works out every day. He enjoys playing video games with friends and playing with his cat Harley. Chris has enjoyed cooking forever. As expected, he is a fantastic cook.

Chris graduated in 2021 from Pittsburgh Technical College with a culinary degree. His first job was running the fryer at Juliano's Pizza. He was hired out of his internship at the prestigious Rivers Club. Rivers is part of the Invited Clubs group.

He worked for two locations in the Invited Clubs family, The Rivers Club and Diamond Run golf course. He started at Diamond Run as one of two chefs in the kitchen. They ran the kitchen at Diamond Run while they were looking for a Executive Chef. In spring 2025, Chris went back to Rivers to help out when the Executive Chef was out. This led him to be hired as their Executive Sous Chef.