Stephen A. Lee (Lebanon)'s Obituary
Stephen A. Lee, son of Arnold L. and Shirley S. Barber Lee, was born November 23, 1954, in Binghamton, New York. He departed this life Friday, April 23, 2021, in Lebanon North Nursing and Rehabilitation Center, in Lebanon, Missouri, at the age of sixty-six years, and five months.
He was preceded in death by his parents; and two brothers, Michael Lee and Timothy Lee.
Steve is survived by two brothers, Martin Lee, of Fitchburg, Massachusetts, and Allan Lee, of San Quinton, California, Mexico; one uncle; two aunts; eight nephews; one niece; a good friend, Jamie Jackson, of Falcon, Missouri; as well as a host of other relatives and friends.
In the early 1980’s Steve was the Head Instructor at Tom Brown’s Wilderness Awareness, Nature and Tracking School in the hills of New Jersey. In 1991, he became the property caretaker and resident chain-smoking hermit for the non-profit known as CROW (Children Respecting Our World), an outdoor environmental education center in upstate New York. Steve maintained his residence at CROW for twenty-five years. While there, he built his famous hand-crafted yurt that he eventually moved to the Ozark hills, where he spent his last days.
Steve was known for weaving stories of secret aikido moves, tracking lore, Taoist insights, botanical wonders, the non-canonical gospels, hand crank blenders, and survival secrets to his entranced students for the last forty years. His legacy is the countless students whose lives were forever changed by the library of knowledge that Steve held. He was creatively frugal and taught everyone the value of what really matters in life.
He was nicknamed ”Gabby” because he reminded his friends of the legendary Gabby Hayes, and was also fondly known as maestro, The Old Man on the Mountain, and more recently the Hobo Guru.
Steve was a dichotomy and paradox of human personality and character, a mystery wrapped in an enigma. He was a crotchety, stubborn crank and a gentle, generous soul. He was humorless yet hilarious, like the perfect straight man. He was hardworking and yet shiftless and glowed with spiritual energy.
He was known to teach by arriving without prepared comments and saying “Ask questions”. Whether you were learning Lao-Tzu’s secret of “wu wie” or how to make a plantain plaster in order to soothe a bee sting, you were learning from a master. Today there is a giant hole ripped in the fabric of space:time and Steve Lee is finally finding the answers to the questions he’s been asking all these years.
Arrangements are under the care and direction of Holman-Howe Funeral Homes of Lebanon, Missouri.
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