Barbara Hicks LeeBarbara Alice Hicks Lee died March 18, 2019, from chemo-resistant ovarian cancer, at age 73. Barbara was born in 1946, in Riverside CA, and grew up in San Diego CA.

Barbara moved to Germany in 1970 to teach on American military bases. While there, she skied the Alps, ate snails, enjoyed the favorable ratio of women to men on the base, made her closet into a darkroom for her photography hobby, and made lifelong friends. She returned to the US in 1975, settling in San Francisco.

Barbara taught at the elementary school level for 14 years, then became an elementary school principal. She set clear goals and high standards for the teachers at the schools she led, encouraging them to collaborate and help each other improve the quality of education. She finished her career as Director of Curriculum for the Alameda school district.

Family was very important to Barbara. She was close to her sister and brother, niece and nephews, and their children. One of her greatest regrets was that she wouldn't get to see them grow up into the amazing adults she knew they would each become.

Later in life, Barb found her healthy body at the Downtown Oakland YMCA, making many friends there. Her love of music evolved into an appreciation of jazz.

She loved nature, especially redwood forests. She travelled to many wild and beautiful places, hiked in the Alps and Patagonia, swam with dolphins in Hawaii, and developed a beautiful garden at home.

After retiring in 2006, Barb rekindled a longtime interest in photography. Combined with her love of travel and nature, this led to an impressive portfolio of landscape photography, and a small business selling prints of her photographs.

A Celebration of Life will be held on June 3rd in Berkeley; contact the family for details. In lieu of flowers, please consider making a donation in Barbara's name to her favorite non-profit, the Save the Redwoods League.