Remembering Darlene

Lunch Bunchers Statement - September 10, 2013

The Oakland Chinatown activist, Darlene Joe Lee, passed on September 6, 2012. We, her friends - the Lunch Bunchers - from Lincoln Elementary School, attended her memorial on September 22, 2012. Following the memorial, Flo Oy Wong, a Lunch Buncher member, invited us to make an art pie to honor Darlene. Flo's upcoming 75th birthday exhibit in November of 2013 would feature art pies that would either deconstruct a stereotype or honor a person who helped to build our country. 

Darlene was a major presence in Oakland Chinatown where she worked with seniors and at-risk youth. She cared about other people. They came first in her life.
To start our pie we shared memories. What was Darlene's passion? How did she touch us? What did she enjoy doing? What objects and materials would represent her? She and her husband, Paul, relished eating out every day and night at Chinatown restaurants. A tasty start! 

We gathered menus from Oakland Chinatown restaurants. At our first pie workshop we read the menus, cutting out names of Darlene's favorite foods, stuffing them into fabric pouches to create the first ingredients. The DJL Memorial Pie was born. We subsequently added family photographs, candy that she loved to give out and memorabilia of Disneyland and the Oakland A's. We met every two months to finish the pie. It was a delicious way filled with laughter and joy to remember Darlene.

She was a quiet but determined star with her big heart, sharing her light with communities of all ages. - Flo

Darlene always had a smile and never had a bad thought about anyone. She was a very caring person. I'm glad the lunch bunch got together to make a pie in her honor. When working with the pie project, I felt Darlene there with us looking down on us and smiling. Darlene always had a way to bring people together. - Dee Dee

While creating the pie, I would see her smiling face. She would always invite me to join for lunch at King Wah with a group of people, some I knew and others that I didn't know. 

She was always very kind and considerate to everyone. I have memories of spending time with her at our lunches and she would give us the latest news around Chinatown. - Dianne

The way I remembered Darlene was that she was very active in the church activities. I was the Director of the Senior Activity center for 20 years which met on Mondays. She would come by and bring whatever she had to share with the Seniors. After the center was to be closed because of the school budget, Darlene volunteered to run the center on Mondays. She always had a good heart and cared for everyone, not only for the young but for the old folks too! It was for her community! - Marianne

When Dianne asked Darlene to join us for lunch, that was the beginning of along and caring friendship.  Because she knew I was a grandparent, each time that we met she made sure to give me pictures and puzzles for me to give to our grandson.  She would tell me about any bargains that she knew of or would even purchase it for me.  She was always thinking of us.  Working on the pie project was like a healing process for all of us.  Every time that we got together, we expressed warm memories of what Darlene had done for each of us. - June 

Artwork by Darlene's grandson Kyle