Lisa Ann Lackey

On the morning of May 19, 2026, Lisa Ann Marcoff Lackey passed away peacefully in her home, surrounded by the love of her family. For seven years she bravely and courageously battled a rare degenerative neurological disease. Her family is comforted that she is no longer suffering.

She was born in Los Angeles, California on September 2, 1960, to Ralph and Dorothy Marcoff. When she was eight years old, her father died from an aggressive brain cancer, and Lisa moved with her mother to Rochester Hills, Michigan, where she lived until her high school graduation in 1978. Four years later, Lisa graduated with a BA in English from Western Michigan and moved to the Minneapolis-Saint Paul area, where she lived for nine years. During that time, she enrolled at the University of Minnesota and graduated with a BS in Education. Soon after, she attended a job fair for teachers and accepted a job in the Charlotte Mecklenburg school system. She moved to North Carolina in 1991 and worked in Charlotte public schools first as a middle school English teacher, then as a high school English teacher, and finally as an elementary school librarian, until her retirement in 2020. During that time Lisa also earned a master’s degree from UNC Greensboro in Library Science. In 1992, Lisa met Michael Lackey in an art gallery and they began dating. In 1996 they were engaged while on vacation in Telluride, Colorado, and a few months later bought a house together in the Randolph Park neighborhood in Charlotte. They married in 1997 and their first child, Anna Kathryn (Ryn) was born in 1998. Son Elijah (Eli) followed in 2002.

Lisa was a singer, a musician, and a gifted songwriter. She loved the beach, swimming, hiking, yoga, performing with her fellow musicians, reading, travel, laughing and telling stories. Most of all, she loved her family, and that included six golden retrievers over the years: Gracie, Carson, Mickey Ray, Penny, Rosie, and Bella. She was kind and generous and had a wonderful sense of humor. She will be remembered most for her love of life and her treasure trove of family and friends.

She is survived by her husband, Michael, daughter Ryn, son Eli, sister Cherie Sorensen, brother-in-law John Teer, mother-in-law Angel Teer, numerous cousins, and too many friends to mention.

She will be profoundly missed by all who knew her.

A celebration of her life is scheduled for Saturday, June 6th, at 1:00, at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Charlotte, 234 N. Sharon Amity Road, Charlotte, NC 28211. A reception will follow immediately after in the fellowship hall.