Katie Lee

Katie Lee was one of the early desert defenders, a brash, fearless woman known for her activism and foul mouth who fought against the Glen Canyon Dam until her death on November 1, 2017, at ninety-eight. The Tucson-raised actress-turned-folk-singer-turned-writer-turned-activist has been called the “Grand Dame of Dam Busting” and the “Desert Goddess,” and Burl Ives, who taught her a thing or two about folk ballads, called her “the best cowboy singer I know.”

Kathryn Louise Lee was born October 23, 1919, in Aledo, Illinois, and arrived in Tucson three months later when her family moved west; she always considered Arizona her home. She graduated from the University of Arizona in 1943 with a bachelor’s in drama, then moved to Hollywood in 1948 to try for a stage and screen career. She got as far as bit parts in pictures and running roles on NBC radio — The Great Gildersleeve, The Railroad Hour with Gordon MacRae — before her musical ear pulled her in a different direction. She