I met Linda in NY during 1983-88.
I had accepted a job at ABC/NY and moved from LA. Linda came to my office as an actress and I was mesmerized by her style. 
Soon thereafter I became a client and would often go to her Bleecker St loft she shared with James and their wonderfully ancient Siamese kitty.
I had often wondered how Linda was and where she might have moved, if anywhere.
I was deeply shocked and saddened upon learning Linda Lee had passed. I offer my sincere condolences to her family and friends. 
Linda was elegant and so very talented. Beautiful style and a memorable soft  voice, which I continue to hear in my head. 
She is free of illness, suffering . Fly high, Lulu.

Lisa Mionie
Hollywood, CA

I just happened to do a search for Linda Lee and unbelievably found the obituary.  My husband worked with her at the Berkeley Rep probably in the summer of 1973 and so when we moved to NYC she and I were introduced and I immediately fell in love with her.  Her style, grace, unending talents, great sense of humor, and incredible beauty made me feel like a princess in her midst. So perceptive, sensitive and able to intuit what you might be thinking and feeling, she was always offering kind and helpful advise and caring.
She was beginning her jewelry career and I was at Tiffany  & Co., I introduced her to John Loring and...the rest is history.  Her jewelry was soon on selling floors in New York and across the country.  We moved to Seattle in '87 and lost track of each other.  She gave me, though, a gorgeous gold band for our wedding and I will cherish it and her,  forever.  As someone said earlier, she is among the sweetest of Angels.  I miss you, LuLu.

Betsy Chamberlin

I didn't know that Linda Lee had passed away until I saw her name in a Doyle Auction catalogue.  We met in the late 80's through our beloved dogs.  She had Bob, a mini-poo she adored and I had my standard  poodle who was a lot of woman for Bob.  We'd visit the Soho studio, the dogs played and I looked at and bought her amazing jewelry.  I've been making jewelry myself owing to her influence and she was always encouraging and loving.  
I recognized her voice, but not her hair color, many years later in Barney's.  We talked and she told me she had been ill.   She was always a warm, generous and loving soul and like so many, I will miss her.  

Correction! 
West Coast Remembrance of Linda Lee Johnson
June 22, 2019

Please let me know if you want to receive an email invitation.
Email me at maryly@snowstudios.com
Text me at 1-510-697-1944

I will post to Dignity if it is still up and running.

West Coast & other fans of Linda Lee
 (aka Lulu and Luli) 
After the wonderful reception in Washington DC, 
it seemed appropriate to hold a 
West Coast reception.

Celebrate Lulu's life & her 75 birthday, 

Some of her favorites:
Oysters on the half shell
Martinis
Etc.

June 20, 2018 or thereabouts
Oakland, California.

Please send me directly (not through Dignity Memorial) 
your email address for eventual  invitation.

Maryly Snow
Oakland, California
maryly@snowstudios.com


I am so touched by the loving memories and beautiful words that have been shared here by Lulu’s many friends, some who knew her for many years.  I wish I had had longer to know this beautiful, talented, kind, generous, and loving woman

I am bereaved by Lulu’s death and the loss of a growing friendship. I knew Lulu for only a few years.  Long enough for her to tell me to call her Lulu, but not long enough for her to confide how ill she was and to allow me into full confidence.  We met at The Church of the Ascension and St. Agnes and bonded in the kitchen while helping prepare for coffee hour after the service and clearing up afterwards.  Lulu was very generous to the church, not only with her time and money, also with her faith, caring, humility, gentleness, good humor, and creativity.  She was so humble that I believe many in the parish were unaware of her artistic talent with jewelry and sculpture, and I am sure very few knew that she had been an actress. 

I had so little time with this gentle and gracious woman. She had great inner courage  and strength of will beneath her outer beauty and calm demeanor.  I envy her friends who knew her more intimately. I am grateful for the shared stories and memories but, selfishly, I mourn that she is gone and I have lost the chance to have memories formed from a friendship many years of friendship.  

Lulu is with her God, bringing gentle love and magical joy to all the souls in his heaven.

I was blessed to have Linda Lee as my sister in-law. She is my daughters godmother and that's because how beautiful she was inside and out! I wanted my daughter to have that inspiration and love, and I believe that Linda Lee will be watching over her the rest of her life 😇
I also was blessed with one of her rings, which I have never taken off since the day she gave it to me!!!
You were so loved and will be so missed 😢
Love you sweetie 💞

A bee was an emblem she engraved on the back of her beautiful jewelry. I met her at Barneys and only knew her in passing. I sent her this poem when she made a piece of jewelry for me. I treasure my ring and my memories of her.

To make a prairie it takes a clover and one bee—
One clover, and a bee,
And revery.
The revery alone will do
if bees are few.

Emily Dickinson

You are so missed my Lulu. My heart still weeps knowing I can’t call you or text you some more silly jokes. 
Thank You for loving me when I was discarded and alone. Thank You for going out of your way to make me be the very best that I can be. You are a hero to all who knew you. To know you is to love you, and that I did with all my heart. 
May God elevate You to the highest levels of Heaven for all the good you did and the love you gave. 
You are irreplaceable.  ❤️

I visited Lulu in November just before starting work on 7 month project.  All week I’ve tried to write a note to see how she was doing and finally did this morning. It bounced back and then I checked on the internet only to find she has passed.  I just want to say she was a fabulous person, kind and generous.  And a great artist.  I met her first in Tokyo many years ago and we had the most hilarious time wandering around finding our way through intricacies of Japanese life. I am very fortunate to have known her.   What an elegant, original, brilliant woman.  
Condolences to all that have to carry on without her.   Sarah Caplan

Here is a photograph of Linda Lee from 1981

It was just by chance that I saw a Linda Lee Johnson Jewelry on Google.  One of the search items mentioned that her father was a Naval aviator. That had to be
THE Linda Lee. 
I called, we chatted about old times,  Alameda, the house on Fountain St., all the fun times..... we had stayed in touch all thru her Cal years and attended her First marriage. We saw her at the Berkeley rep (Bus Stop)... then lost touch when she moved East.
A few years ago the family of a pilot from Air Group 11 was building a permanent 
exhibit on the Aircraft Carrier Hornet Museum in Alameda. AG11 was called the Sundowners. When I mentioned this to Linda, she let out a little scream and said that her father flew in the Sundowners Squadron.  His nickname was “Smiley” and he was a fighter pilot
With AG11 when they  were based on Guadalcanal.  Along with the exhibit, a documentary was produced and when looking for background material the producers found a piece of film showing “ Smiley” getting into his plane.... Linda had never seen him in motion, only photos... she was stunned... 
She came out for the grand opening and
premiere of the documentary.. we had a great visit ... never once did she mention 
Any medical issues.... 
Along with her beauty and many talents, 
She also had the rather unique ability to make you feel like you were the most lmportant person in her life.... whether in an email, on the phone, or sitting across 
From her..... Her passing is a great loss.....


Beautiful Linda Lee rest in peace. 
I'm not sure when I first met Lulu because it feels like she was always there - so many weavings of shared time. For a brief period we were both married to UCB professors and that famous drama department office was central to our lives. We also played together in lots of shows at the Berkeley Rep - the so-called early days - and it was play, joyful group engagement and struggle. She taught me so much, especially in our crazy backstage dressing room where we often sat side by side, staring into the makeup mirror preparing. (Much talk about what it was to be a woman in the 1970s.) Her makeup was meticulous, researched and fitting. Lulu was not concerned about how much time it took; she focused on creating her vision.  She was clearly on the Path of Beauty. I knew little then about her other artistic passions - that she would approach them all with the same delicate blow torch of feminine power.

Around 1978-79 many actors from the BRT moved to NYC and Lulu and I were among them. She saved me from over and over again by feeding me her delicious food, hosting me when I needed a roof over my head, giving me clothes that I needed for auditions, sending me to her acting teacher, listening with her uniquely balanced ear and easing our troubles with her inimitable laugh. I loved her.

In 1986 my 2nd husband Al Lewis opened a restaurant across from her loft in Bleecker Street and I would frequently zip over to visit. Our theater friends were still in the battle of finding acting jobs, but she had brilliantly transitioned from acting to jewelry making. Her fingers in constant motion as thoughts danced between us. She was so humble about her work that it took a while for me to understand that she was taking the art world by the scruff of its neck. Everything that her hands touched was exquisite including her friendships.  How I value the way she told the truth, her self-expression and what we shared.


For almost fifty years. Linda Lee was an unfailingly tender, concerned, and supportive friend. What amazing luck to have known her!

Lulu on the porch at Mt. Vernon, 2116

Yesterday I was scanning the obituaries in the SF Sunday Chronical and was drawn to the picture of a beautiful woman whose face seemed oddly familiar.  The “On my!” moment came when I glanced above the picture to read the name.

I was the photographer for the Berkeley Rep back in the late 70s at the time Linda Lee was in the company.  I’m quite convinced that she was the most photogenic person at whom I had ever pointed a lens.  I was inspired to dig out my Berkeley Rep photo archives, untouched for over 40 years and with a half inch of dust on the cover of the box.  In the box I found countless negatives but actually few prints.  The one (you may apparently only load one here) I’m sharing is probably from Bus Stop (Our Town in another possibility).  It wasn’t the best picture of her I ever took, but it was the best one for which a print was on hand.

Although it’s been decades since I last saw her, I remember her most fondly and was reminded by the Chronicle announcement just how much I thought she was quite a special person.



I met Linda Lee in 1976 at Berkeley Rep and we've been friends all these many years. It was magical being friends with Linda Lee. A gift that enriched my life over and over through the decades. I was so lucky. My daughter and I visited her last spring and celebrated Easter with her at her beautiful church and in her gorgeous home.

Sending special condolence to her Chester. Oh, little doggie, I feel so badly for you! What are you going to do without our gal? What are any of us going to do without our Lulu?

I'm attaching a picture of Lulu and my daughter that I took on Easter Day. I love this picture not only because she looks so radiant, but also because it shows how engaged and engaging she always is... was... is... My daughter, as you can see, fell madly in love with her. As I did. As we all did. I will miss her forever...


I first met Linda Lee in September of 1962 where I had just pledged the Beta Theta Pi Fraternity and the new pledges at the sororities were being "presented" .  I immediately fell in love and dated Linda Lee for all of that first semester at Berkeley and was even fortunate to be invited by her to the Kappa Christmas Formal dance.
Our paths diverged after that but I never forgot this lovely, wonderful individual who was so kind to me getting through those first early months of college. She was a lovely, beautiful lady both inside and out and anyone who knew her was truly blessed.  I'm sure Ihave a photo somewhere of the 2 of us at that dance and if I can find it after more than 50 years I will try and post.  Hi Maryly Snow - I read your tribute and have fond memories of your mother in Piedmont.  

I met her in June 1969.  I still have the application she helped me fill out to declare a major – though most of my memory of first meeting her is taken over by her huge great loving energy. She was an amazingly beautiful person – and had a depth of feeling, of love, grace and very high and wide humor that knocked over everyone who knew her.  As an actor, she was extraordinary – her unforgettable Maggie in After the Fall in DC, and Bella in Angel Street in NC and those scores of roles in Berkeley (Maria, Hermia, Ophelia, Cherie, Grace, Luciana, Peggy, more, more, more) where, besides charming and moving audiences, she helped a young flailing actor find some confidence.   Her generosity throughout the time we spent together, in California and later in New York, is a long series of gifts and blessings and offerings that I’ll never forget nor the memory of ever be able to live without.  She was an Artist in her life and in her living, in every way – in her jewelry, in the theatre, as a hostess, a chef, designer, collaborator, psychic, spiritual advisor, in any way she was needed. She gave so much to her friends – and I know what she gave me I couldn’t ever repay.   We had dinner together for the last time in October 2016 – it was alternately raucous and serene. She was unlike anybody. I loved her and I miss her. Always will.    

I want to say thank  you everyone for sharing your  stories.  they have made me smile, put me to tears.
   I met Linda Lee thru an email she sent me, requesting  my help in 2016.   I told her I was happy to help her in anyway I can.  we have had many emails, I have saved them all.  saw photos of the lake house, beautiful place.
   I was blessed to visit  Linda Lee in April.  When she opened the front door, you could feel the joy, her smile.  I gave her the longest hug,  we spent the whole day together.  she told me her life stories,  the happy ones and the sad ones.  I was honored to be there for her.  she fixed us lunch. She did say to me "this is a magical day" and it was.  We went into DC, looking at crystals and stones, parking was very easy even  finding a parking place right in front of the ice cream shop. I can still see her eating that ice cream cone, the twinkle in her eyes. She had not had one in a long time.  Later went to Rite aide again finding a parking place in front. she said "in all the years I have lived here I have never parked in front. It is a magical day!"    I will always cherish  that day .  I even told her "we are sisters of the heart". I know, we will all see her on the other side. One of our angels.... 

 (one thing I regret, not getting a  Jewelry piece made by her)

You made my very first piece of fine jewelry I had the opportunity to own. You will
Forever be missed.  I will
Always smile when I think of how special you always were to all of us that had the pleasure of working with you and selling your jewelry.
With love and peace-
Sonya Benson Markey

I met Linda Lee when she was the secretary and central hub of Dwinelle Annex at the Department of Dramatic Art at the University of California at Berkeley.  She was kind and welcoming and always knew the answer to every question.  She was also phenomenally beautiful.  Later I watched her perform at the Berkeley Repertory Theatre where she acted  in the early, formative,  and exciting years.  She was married to my friend and colleague, Doug Johnson.  Later, on the East Coast, she welcomed us with open arms to her beautiful loft in the village where she put us up when we came to the city to immerse ourselves in New York Theatre.   After life changed, and she was designing her fabulous jewelry, I called her from the west coast and asked her to make our wedding rings, which I still cherish.   She was one of the most gracious, creative and sweet hearted people I have ever known.   The world is just a little less graceful without her.

I met Linda Lee through our friend Rob Cunningham  about  32 years ago .
We were all living in NYC then and we used to go to her loft in the village and hang out then her loft in so ho on broadway then she moved up State we were a big group and we did many fun things together all the time  I own several of her gorgeous Jewerly she had the kindest disposition she had a beautiful light and airy voice she was kind as the day is long in the summer Linda Lee was always very supportive of all of us and she had a fantastic sense of humor and her sense of style was super unique very elegant delicate and beautiful she inspired us to see things with our own eyes and to see beauty in everything as she did she was the very best example of how to live life well with grace and kindness above all else I love you Linda Lee ❤️

Linda Lee and I met briefly when we were 16 in Alameda, California, her home town. Soon we were in the same pledge class in college (Kappa Kappa Gammas at University of California, Berkeley). We've been friends ever since. I've seen her beautiful creations, from her first handsome, shockingly unique wedding, then Linda Lee as Psyche in John Argue's "Eros and Psyche" in 1970, to many wonderful performances at Berkeley Repertory Theatre (1972-1977). When I think of Linda Lee, I recall her residences, the way she made gorgeous, unique interiors.  Oh, her design sense - where did it come from? so unusual yet timeless and elegant! Her beautiful Soho studio, her  Eastside loft, the Casino in the Adirondacks, homes in Georgetown and D.C. I've followed her, loved, admired, even envied her, for more than 50 years. She generously and graciously took me under her wing when I needed a safe place to live. I feel blessed to have had her in my life, and now to continue to wear her rings and earrings as quiet, elegant reminders of her, a beautiful person inside and out. I've included a photo of Linda Lee at the Phillips Collection in 2014. She gave me permission to take this photo, and she didn't make me delete it. Emojis smiley face, heart. I miss you Linda Lee.

Linda Lee was my neighbor in Long Lake, N.Y. She was charming , kind and had a great sense of humor . I know she was extremely talented ! I am proud that some of her treasures will remain in Long Lake in my home as she wanted. 

I met Linda Lee when she lived in a fabulous space in Soho in NYC. She pulled out her beautiful jewelry for me to try on and even let me wear a lovely pair of earrings out to dinner. Over  20 years later she remembered exactly which pair I had chosen to wear and offered them to my husband to purchase for our anniversary as well as a fabulous necklace for my birthday that I prize above all others. She was simply an angel that walked among us and I shall treasure my memories and miss her but will wear her amazing creations and hold her in my heart.💔

Linda Lee & I flew down from NY to Raleigh-Durham on my birthday 1/4/82 to play Bella & Rough (respectively) in ANGEL STREET. It was a joyous experience, largely supported by LL's unlimited happiness. I will miss her. It was an honor to work along side of her, and to share theatre stories, life epiphanies, artists that we loved, all over a bottle of Jameson's. 

OBITUARY

Linda Lee Johnson

June 20, 1944 – September 2, 2018

Murphy Funeral Homes

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