Johanna Tara Wood Lee

May 10, 1968 - October 1, 2009

We have lost a face long seen in San Francisco, someone who evoked the Vikings, the Valkyries and Amazons, who transformed intense early pain into achingly funny satire as an offstage comedian.

Joe lived in south Florida and a small town New Hampshire as a child. But after sprouting natural chin hair at age 14, didn't stay long. Many people tried persistently to get Joe to cut off the beard, but s/he was as proud of it as Sampson of his mane. Although the top English SAT scorer at that high school, after an abbreviated academic stint in Northampton, Joe left for the Michigan Festival and California.

Joe was a talented cartoon and zine artist, a founding member of the White Rats Morris, and part of queercore band Tribe 8's beginning. Joe was especially gifted with animals, particularly dogs, and had been a valued Bird Rescue Center volunteer.

Joe had a caring heart and healing hands for humans as well. An unlettered scholar of history, Joe delved deeply into the lore of transformative divination with Norse runes.

There will be a memorial Nov. 7 at CellSpace, 2050 Bryant Street in San Francisco; gather at 12:15 p.m.

We miss you so much, Joe, you'll never be forgotten.