Pictured: Tonna is pictured right, with her partner Avis. Photos by Tracy Baim
As reported last week in Windy City Times, Lisa Tonna, an anti-tobacco advocate who was a former manager of the Center on Halsted’s Anti-Violence Project and interim managing director of the Lesbian Community Care Project (LCCP), passed away Jan. 8 after an almost year-long battle with cancer. She was 38.
Vernita Gray, a good friend of Tonna, e-mailed her memories to Windy City Times: “Lisa was very special to me. We partied together as she, Avis and I were all friends. We worked together when she was at Horizons, we did anti-violence work together. By coincidence, Lisa and I ended up on the same flight to Portland, [Ore.,] where we went to Creating Change together. Each year she and Avis would do this pancake party in the spring that was always a riot. I never participated in the pancake race, but I would drink, eat, and laughed at the others. Lisa was a bright light in our community. She was looking forward to having a child, and had just set up her own practice. What a beautiful person she was—a real loving, hippie-spirited, passionate woman, and I loved her piercings.”
In a mass e-mail, LCCP Director Catherine Jefcoat said, in part, that ” [a] s a person, Lisa was inspirational. She was empathic and warm, bringing a critical eye and tender heart to everything she did. She asked difficult questions in the most loving ways—holding everyone with grace and accountability. … She will truly be missed.”
Center on Halsted Executive Director Modesto “Tico” Valle e-mailed this statement: “Our community has suffered a great loss. Lisa gave a voice to those who have been mistreated and worked to ensure no one would be silenced. Her passion for the Anti-Violence Project and desire to create safe and healthy lives for those she met along her journey will never be forgotten. We will miss her laughter and joy. Her partner Avis and her family are in our thoughts.”
A celebration of Lisa’s life was held Sat., Jan. 12, at the University of Illinois at Chicago’s Student Services Building, 1200 W. Harrison. Another friend of Tonna, Nancy J. Powell, e-mailed that ” [t] he service was very nice, and the turnout was amazing. The effect that Lisa had on individuals and the community was huge, and many had a chance to get up and speak, to say just that.” Powell added that Ann Sather Restaurant donated food and Sidetrack donated water, with leftover items going to the Pacific Garden Mission.
Tonna is survived by her mother, Yvonne; a brother, Adrian; a sister, Celia; and her partner, Avis Jamison, as well as many friends.