A Vicksburg husband and father of four died Sunday morning after his motorcycle flipped near Eagle Lake, the third fatal motorcycle wreck in the county in 11 days.

John P. Lee, 61, was riding his 2008 Kawasaki on Mississippi 465 at Eagle Lake Shore Road around 10:19 a.m. when he lost control and ran into an embankment, said Mississippi Highway Safety Patrol spokesman Cpl. Odis Easterling. Easterling said Lee was attempting to pass a vehicle.

He was taken to River Region Medical Center, where he died from head and chest trauma, Warren County Coroner Doug Huskey said. No autopsy will be performed.

“He was a very giving person, a generous person,” said Ann Lee, his wife of 17 years. “He had a lot of friends. He drank coffee every morning and every night at Delta Outfitters. He was a good, loving husband and father. He made sure his family was taken care of.”

Ann Lee said her husband, who owned a general contracting business called The Lee Group, was riding in the Eagle Lake area to check on a possible job and planned to meet her.

“He was supposed to meet me at church,” she said. “He has been a member of Highland Baptist Church (on Halls Ferry Road) since he was a baby.”

John Lee was born in Vicksburg and had four children — Matthew, 35; Mark, 30; Lauren, 15; and Autumn Claire, 12, his wife said.

Matthew and Mark are from a previous marriage, she said. He also had four grandchildren — Haley, 14; Hunter, 10; Brianna Daughtry, 10; and Ty, 11 months.

“He taught all of his children and the little ones how to hunt and fish,” Ann Lee said. “He was an avid hunter and fisherman. His learned to hunt and fish when he was 3.”

John Lee attended Jett High School and left his junior year in 1967 to join the U.S. Army. He served in the 82nd Airborn through 1970 and was honorably discharged in the rank of sergeant, Ann Lee said.

Ann Lee also said her husband was an avid biker and rode often around their home in Openwood Plantation subdivision.

“He would ride around the neighborhood just for fun,” she said.

John Lee’s death represents the third motorcycle fatality in Warren County in two weeks and the eighth fatal wreck in the county this year. Three traffic-related deaths have been reported in the city this year.

The body of Lt. Col. Jeffrey Dryden, 46, with the Army Reserve’s 412th Theater Engineer Command in Vicksburg was found a week ago in a ravine off Holly Ridge Road, which is near his home on Briarfield Drive in Belle Meade subdivision off Porters Chapel Road.

Vicksburg police said Dryden apparently lost control of his Harley-Davidson and hit a utility pole the day before. He was pronounced dead from chest trauma on the scene.

William Edward “Eddie” Broadwater, 55, 24 Wigwam Road, died Sept. 22 when his 1999 Yamaha skidded and flipped in the 1500 block of Nine Mile Cut-off Road. Broadwater died of a broken neck.

All three men were wearing helmets.

Glenwood Funeral Home has charge of John Lee’s arrangements.