Born October 20, 1939 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. His mom and dad moved to San Diego in 1946. Joe knew he was gay at age 6. His first crush was Roy Rogers. He has two sisters and one brother. He went to Saint Charles Academy, Mission Bay High School, USD and graduated in 1968 from SDSU with an elementary K-8 teaching credential. He began teaching in 1969 in the La Mesa / Spring Valley School District. He retired 20 years later to get his real estate license. He was a member of the greater San Diego Business Association and the Hillcrest Business Association. He volunteered for Chris Kehoe's City Council race from day one to election in 1983. In 1993, he purchased Flick's bar and became an activist in the LGBT community. He served as co-chair for the San Diego LGBT Center's Gala with Chris Shaw. He was inducted into the International Imperial Court by John Laird, Grey Wolf Emperor 21. His investiture was done by Queen Mother of the Americas, Nicole M. Ramirez. He traveled to the Vatican with the Mission San Diego Choir at the invitation of Pope John Paul II to sing the Easter Sunday Mass in St. Peter's Basilica. He joined St. Paul's Cathedral to become their Convener for the LGBT lay ministry. He has held forums and workshops to educate members about transgender issues and to have discussion and to bring awareness to school bullying. In June 2019, Joe produced an event at Flick's to remember the third anniversary of the Pulse Nightclub shootings. He added a fundraiser for the Matthew Shepard Foundation and raised more than $2,100 for the event. He supports local LGBT candidates running for local and state offices. His 80th birthday was held on October 19th from 4pm-7pm at Flicks. He requested that his birthday event also be a fundraiser for Todd Gloria who was running for Mayor of San Diego.
As per Joe's request, flower arrangements will be red roses.
Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.merkleymitchell.com for the Letzkus family.
