She was the wife of comic book creator Stan Lee, whom she met in New York City in the 1940s while working as a hat model.

[2] Her father, Norman Dunton Boocock married her mother Hannah Clayton in the Castle Ward district of Northumberland in 1920.

[9] Lee's cousin had set him up on a blind date with a different model at the agency where Joan worked.

When Lee went to the modelling agency to meet his intended date, Joan answered the door instead.

[10][3] Lee proposed after two weeks of dating, and she went to Reno, Nevada in order to nullify her previous marriage.

[20] Lee died on 6 July 2017, in Los Angeles from stroke-related complications with her husband of almost 70 years and their daughter, Joan, at her bedside.