Joanne the Love of My Life
By husband Ted Saunders
February 18, 2015
Joanne N Saunders, 81, died peacefully in her sleep on February 16, 2015 in Covington, Washington.
I first met Joanne at a Feast of Tabernacles gathering in 1966 in Squaw Valley California. Since I lived in Helena, Montana and she lived in Seattle, Washington; we exchanged mailing addresses and began writing frequent eager letters back and forth. The following spring we met in Spokane where I proposed marriage to her. She accepted and set Oct 12, 1967 as the date. That marriage was to last 47 years until 11:30 AM on February 16 when she died in the faith. She retired from working in various office jobs and became a full time homemaker. I believe full time devotion at home is one major reason our marriage lasted so long.
I had grown up in Montana but decided to move to Seattle to live near her many friendly relatives. We continued attending the feasts every fall in various places including California, Florida and once 20 years ago to Hawaii.
In 1998 she was found to have a bacterial (nocardia) infection in two of her lower back vertebra. The doctors cut away the infected parts and put a cage with ground bone from her leg to fuse that part of the spine together. The hospital stay of two month including having to wear a turtle shell like brace daily for several months afterwards had a profound effect because so many people she never knew were so kind to her. She started sharing little jokes with them and got many to sign their names and addresses in a diary she kept on the happenings.
She revived her writing of snail mail to many of the people she met and eagerly looked forward to a flood of personal letters, which came back. Since that time the Internet became wide spread but she stuck to personal handwriting of encouragement and friendly chat to as many as she could. It became her labor of love, which she extended to as many who had the patience to do the same. She enjoyed crossword puzzles, reading, visiting with friends, meeting new people, watching sports football and especially baseball.
We went to the hospital almost daily where I would push her in a wheel chair to appointments and to the cafeteria. We
made many new friends that way. The last 6 weeks it was decided by the doctors that they could not safely repair her heart valve which was failing. She repeatedly said she wanted to go home so Katey our youngest daughter took her into her home and Joanne was able to die peacefully and gave up her spirit into the Father’s hands to keep until the resurrection. We have lived a life like sheep in God’s care……..
Joanne is survived by myself (her husband), her sister Dorothy and her husband Dale, her daughter Nancy, her daughter Katey, and her two grandson’s Christopher and Justin.