Lee Loe

1929 - 2023

Lee Loe
01/07/1929 - 04/10/2023
Lee Tinker Loe passed away on April 10, 2023 in Durham, NC, in the apartment that she shared with her husband of almost 71 years, Hardy D. Loe, Jr., MD, and her beloved Siberian Forest Cat, Caruso. She was 94. The eldest of four, Lee was born in Los Angeles, California but raised in Texas. She and Hardy met as students at the University of Texas, Austin. After Hardy completed his medical education and service with the US Army, they settled in Houston, TX in 1967, where Lee founded the first peace group at First Unitarian Church of Houston. Lee helped found a longstanding tradition of annual "Peace Fairs" in Houston. This work led to an annual "Sing For Peace." She published and circulated a "Sing Peace Songbook" as an outgrowth of this tradition. She followed this up by founding a newspaper, Houston Peace News, in 1981, which was published for over 25 years in print, and continues as an online publication. During the first Gulf war, she began to publish The Iraq Notebook, which enjoyed an international circulation. Lee's activism also encompassed racial justice, the environment (especially combating climate change), the Nuclear Freeze movement; and organizing the sending of warm clothing to refugees from war every Christmas. Her home was welcoming to all: the annual potluck Christmas caroling at the Loe's Montrose home was legendary, as were her love of animals and delight in the arts.

A loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Lee is survived by her husband Hardy and daughters Shari, Jan, and Leslie, four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her sister, two brothers, and daughter Claire. A memorial service will be held in Durham, NC in her independent living community on May 13 at 3:00 pm, to be followed by a larger memorial service in Houston on July 15 at 2 pm at the First Unitarian Universalist Church at 5200 Fannin. In lieu of flowers, the family ask that gifts be made to the Claire Loe Memorial Scholarship In lieu of flowers, the family asks that gifts be made to the Claire Loe Memorial Scholarship https://sbmi.uth.edu/current-students/financial-services/doctoral-research-awards.htm, at UTHealth Houston, PO Box 20268, Houston, TX 77025-9998 or https://giving.uth.edu/memorial.
Condolences may be sent to Hardy directly at Bartlett Reserve, 300 Meredith Drive, Apartment 107, Durham, NC 27713, and the rest of the family c/o Leslie Loe, 19 Frances Street, Chapel Hill, NC 27517.