| Joanne Thomas Saathoff |
Joanne was baptized in the First Christian Church of Nevada in 1939 becoming a fourth generation member of the Church. She attended Bryan School and Sylvandale School. Joanne graduated from Nevada High School in 1943 where she played the French horn, was an enthusiastic majorette and was active in theatre. She went on to graduate from Cottey College in 1945 and worked at Farm and Home Savings and Loan, Jones Hardware and at the Nevada State Hospital. Joanne was married on November 8, 1945 to Richard Saathoff. Joanne and Richard were blessed with two loving children, Shelia Klumpp Saathoff and Steven Thomas Saathoff.
Joanne was devoted to her family and friends. She was a prolific storyteller who particularly loved passing down the history and tales of her ancestors. She contributed greatly to the recording of the Nevada and Vernon County history. From her senior year of high school to the end of her 90 years, she recorded it all. Her genealogy and historical research stretched back in history as far as 1599. Her research has been published and used by the Mormon Church database and countless others. She was an accomplished artist, poet and singer. She loved dancing to big band music at Radio Springs, breakfast at the 54 Café with her friends, meeting with her widows group, burgers and crisp Suzy Q’s from the grill and tomato aspic. She had an uncanny ability to spot a four leaf clover and most attributed her luck to the Irish lineage she was so proud of. She was most proud of her family, showing them off and introducing them to everyone she knew, which was pretty much everybody in town! No one was forgotten with Joanne; she attended to and visited the gravesides of all of her passed love ones and in between, reminisced about their history through her treasured keepsakes. Her home and heart were filled with her family and friends and though we will miss her, we know she will always be with us.
She leaves behind her baby sister Patty Koch and nephew, Reid Walters; her children, Shelia and Steve who will miss her dearly, grandchildren, Ethan and Elizabeth Klumpp, Mandi Ketter, Lacey Strawder and Joe Price and great-grandchildren, Malori, Aiden, Colin, Kendyl, Parker, Emerson, Fallyn and Jayden. She was preceded in death by her “mother and daddy”, Aunt and Uncle Elizabeth and Earl Jolly, her youngest brother Richard Koch and twin brothers, Bob and Gene Thomas.
A memorial service will be held at 1:00 p.m. on Saturday, May 7, 2016 at Ferry Funeral Home in Nevada. Friends may call now and until the hour of service at the funeral home.
