Angeljoke

Henry Lee emigrated from China to Virginia in elementary school not knowing any English.

But that did not seem to hold him back. By the time he graduated from William Fleming High School in Roanoke, he had a 4.47 grade point average, was a member of the school’s French and Beta clubs, was class salutatorian, and even managed to work part-time at a local Sears.

When he died at Virginia Tech on Monday at the age of 20, Mr. Lee — who had changed his name from Hen Ly to Henry — was a freshman majoring in computer engineering.

“He had the maturity and skills to be that computer engineer he always wanted to be,” said his high school principal, Susan Lewyer Willis.

Ms. Lewyer Willis said the school held a formal awards ceremony last year for its students, and Mr. Lee won just about every award that was given out. The staff and faculty members all sat on stage, while the students and their parents sat in the auditorium.

“Every other award was ‘Hen Ly, Hen Ly,’ it was so cute,” she said. “We all anticipated Hen Ly. When I was shaking his hand for probably the 12th time, I said, ‘Hen Ly, stay up here with us,’ he said O.K. He had a huge grin on his face.”

As salutatorian, he was supposed to give a speech, but was so nervous that at first he did not want to, Ms. Lewyer Willis said. “He would step in my office and shake his head no, and I’d shake my head yes, and that was the way we communicated about this. Finally I said, ‘I’ll tell you what, Hen Ly, work with your teachers and they can help you with the speech.”

They did, and it needed few revisions. Ms. Willis’s secretary put a tissue in her program that day. Mr. Lee spoke about the difficulties he had coming to America and sitting in a classroom, not knowing how to speak English. He also spoke of having immigrant parents and being one of many children. “He said to them, ‘Imagine sitting in class not knowing the language; now I am No. 2 in my class’ — it was such a proud moment,” she said.