Eyevee Woods, free spirit who called the Mission home, dies at 24

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Eyevee Woods III, a free-spirited nomad, artist and devoted contributor to San Francisco’s subculture, died June 2 at 24 years old after a train-hopping accident. 

A celebration of life was held Saturday, June 21 at “Minicine?” — the film and art space in Shreveport, Louisiana, where Woods performed growing up. 

Craig Baldwin, one of Woods’ first friends in San Francisco and the director of Artists’ Television Access, where Woods briefly lived in the basement, said he will most remember Woods’ “vivacity, love of life, apparent obvious joy and glee and energy and sharing” as well as her “jaw-dropping, full-frontal honesty.”

That came clearly across in March 2023 when Mission Local profiled Woods and her journey to San Francisco. 

As Christina Macintosh wrote then, a journey like the one that brought Woods to the city is increasingly rare. The 21-year-old Woods had never left her home state of Louisiana before a 2021 road trip started her on the path toward her “having a kind of innocent abroad experience in San Francisco.” 

At the time, Woods told Mission Local, “The community that first made me feel like a human being and made me feel connected to people was through art. But now that I’m here, I’m meeting people through gardening, through love of a bookstore or donut shop, through walking the same street. So, luckily, my community is expanding.”

At the time, Woods was also transitioning to female, but was not yet ready to talk about it with strangers. By late May of this year, when Woods left for a cross-country trip, Ivy Woods had become Eyevee Woods. Her plan was to visit family in Shreveport and then go on to New York to reconnect with friends and play shows. 

She never made it to Shreveport.  

According to local reports, Woods and her partner train-hopped, boarding a train from California to Utah. They both fell asleep close to midnight, but when her partner, Emzi O’Mara, awoke around 1:15 a.m., Eyevee was missing. A railroad employee found Woods’ body on the tracks near the Utah border.

Close friends said that not all of Woods’ friends and family were aware of her decision to use she/her pronouns. Quotes from loved ones using other pronouns have been clarified with brackets.

During Woods’ time in San Francisco, she made the Mission her home, volunteering at Martin de Porres Soup Kitchen and at the cooperative bookstore Adobe Books. She was also an avid musician and performer, playing in at least nine bands in the last two years. Her signature instrument was the upright bass.

Facing daunting rent prices in the Mission, Woods coordinated with several friends to share a house and routinely brought people together through performance and opening her home with the promise of a party, said Ivy Jeanne, a close friend and former bandmate.

Jeanne, who has lived in San Francisco and been a part of the local music scene for almost 30 years, described the house as “like a throwback to the ’90s” and “one of those magical instances” of a past San Francisco.

“[Her] van, which was a van that it felt could break at any moment, right? It was always filled with people and stuff, and it was beautifully ridiculous — and definitely reminded me of my friends over many decades being a long-time punk rocker,” said Jeanne.

Ivy Woods II, Eyevee’s father, described her as not caring what background people were from, and “probably more interested in talking to the homeless man asking for money on the street corner” than “a man in a business suit.”

When a rare snowstorm blew through Shreveport, grinding the city to a halt, Woods leapt into action, braving the storm to distribute blankets and pots of coffee, Eyevee’s mother, Elizabeth Woods, said. 

“I don’t know a lot of people that lived by their convictions, but my kid did,” said Elizabeth Woods. She said that Eyevee did her research, read voraciously, and came to nuanced convictions that she never gave up on.

Woods is survived by her parents, three younger siblings and the nine cousins she was raised with. 

Her partner, O’Mara, said that Woods remains present in the lives of those who loved her, “She’s here and there. She’s making us laugh.”

“There was only one Eyevee,” added Yash Pathak, a close friend. “There’s not going to be another.” 

Correction: An earlier version of this story referred to Ivy Jeanne as Ivy McClleland.