James L. "Lee" Drinks Jr., a repair foreman and a labor relations manager for the former C&P; Telephone Co., died Tuesday of lung disease at Gilchrist Hospice Center in Towson.

He was 79 and had lived at Oak Crest Village in Parkville since 1997.

Born in Baltimore, Mr. Drinks attended St. Rose of Lima Catholic Elementary School in Brooklyn, and Mount St. Joseph High School, where he graduated in 1941. He also attended University of Baltimore.

He began working for Chesapeake & Potomac Telephone Co. of Maryland in 1941, but left to serve in the Army during World War II. He was a sergeant and served in Italy, Corsica and Okinawa before he was honorably discharged in 1945.

After the war, he resumed working for C&P;, where he spent 45 years. He worked as a building and repair foreman and later, as a manager in labor relations before he retired in 1985.

In 1945, he married Sonia Ann Stankiewicz. The couple lived in Arbutus and Brooklyn before they settled in Glen Burnie in the early 1950s.

Mr. Drinks was active at Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church in Glen Burnie and the Church of the Crucifixion in Glen Burnie.

Services were Friday.

In addition to his wife, he survived by two sons, James L. Drinks III of Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Paul D. Drinks of Perry Hall; one daughter, Christine Maiale of Pasadena; a sister Rosalie Griisser of Brooklyn; and nine grandchildren.

Donations may be made to the Oak Crest Village Benevolent Fund, 8200 Walther Blvd., Baltimore 21234 or the Hospice of Baltimore, 6601 N. Charles St., Towson 21204.