Robert Lee Sewell

Robert Lee Sewell went home to be with his Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on March 26, 2024.

He was born July 14,1944, in Canton, Georgia, the only child of Broughton and Ruby Sewell. He was a lifelong member of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church, where he was ordained as a Deacon of the church in 1994 and served as Chairman of the Deacon Board for many years. He was a loving, hardworking husband, father, grandfather, and friend. 

As a child, Robert always enjoyed being outside, riding his bicycle to play with his neighbors and many cousins. As a teenager, he loved playing basketball and played on the Cherokee High School Varsity Basketball team. He also had a great passion for hot rod cars and loved watching drag racing on the track or the street. He and his son, Scott, recently purchased and restored a 1957 two door Custom 300 Ford – fulfilling a lifelong dream. Robert also enjoyed his time in the woods and on the golf course. He spent many hours hunting birds and deer with family members and friends.

The family moved from Canton to Cumming, Georgia when Robert was a junior in high school and he joined his former rivals on the Forsyth County High School varsity basketball team. He enjoyed living closer to his granddaddy, Reverend Tyre Sewell, and spoke fondly of rabbit hunting and plowing the garden with him.  During the summer months, Robert worked as part of his father’s carpenter crew, which consisted mostly of his dad, his uncles, and cousins.

He graduated from Reinhardt College, where he played intramural basketball and worked on the school’s farm crew to help pay his tuition.  While at Reinhardt he met the love of his life, Faye Bishop, and they married, after graduation. He began working at Lockheed, in Marietta and soon after, welcomed the birth of their daughter, Lee Ann. Robert and his father, Broughton, along with their many skilled family members and friends, built their family home in the early 1970’s. Soon after, Robert and Faye welcomed the birth of their son, Scott.    

Robert worked, for eighteen years, at the Atlanta Housing Authority, and then joined a consulting firm – traveling to advise on public housing projects in almost every state. He founded his own maintenance firm in the 1980s, and in 2000, began working for the Forsyth County Board of Education, as Chief Facilities and Operations Director. During his 10 years serving in that role, he was responsible for awarding contracts and overseeing the construction of 18 new schools,182 new classroom additions, a new maintenance warehouse facility, bus garage, and transportation office building.  He managed the maintenance of 35 schools, and 7 support buildings totaling over 5 million square feet. Robert was responsible for over $28 million in lifecycle upgrades, and over 1,000 acres of land accusation - including land for 7 future schools. He was committed to his job and took great pride in his work, saying that his reward was to see the smiles as children entered their new buildings for the first time. 

Dedication to God and his church led Robert to a lifetime of faithful and loyal support of Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church and its members – helping with church events and fundraisers, spending time with members and their families during hospital stays, and regularly visiting those in assisted living.

He is survived by his loving wife, Faye, with whom he shared almost 60 years of marriage. He is also survived by his daughter and son-in-law, Lee Ann and John Head; son and daughter-in-law, Scott and Jennifer Sewell; granddaughter and grandson-in-law, Katherine and Nathan Falls; in-laws Thomas Bishop, and Shirley and Ronald Kennedy; and numerous other cousins.  He is preceded in death by his parents, Broughton, and Ruby Sewell; in-laws, Kenneth and Martha Bishop; sister-in-law Pat Bishop, and in-laws Jean and Franklin Cochran.   

Family, friends and others, whose lives Robert has touched, are invited to reminisce, and celebrate a wonderful man and a life well lived at Ingram Funeral Home, 210 Ingram Ave, Cumming, GA from 3:00-8:00 pm on March 28^th, and from 11:00 am-1:00 pm on March 29^th.   

Services will be held at Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church at 2:00 pm on March 29th. The Reverends Danny Orr and Randy Richards will officiate, and internment will follow, in Mt. Pisgah Baptist Church Cemetery. 

 Blessed rest to a faithful, loyal, and loving servant, who will be forever loved and remembered in our hearts.