Joan Dolores Martin's Obituary
I met Joanie in the month of October in the year 1988, in a little tavern in Tacoma, there were no other people in the room and the band was playing on the stage, I was sitting behind her and I was somewhat surprised when she turned to me and asked me if I wanted to dance, she said that she was trying to loose weight for an upcoming high school reunion, so I said sure, she had a special style all her own that I thought was just amazing, I’d never seen anyone, before or after that, that could even come close to how graceful and talented she was on the dance floor. Needles to say I was immediately impressed by her, I myself was not the greatest at dancing, but I father taught some basic steps as a teenager, and I was a quick learner. We continued to meet and go dancing and as a time went on we got so good at it, that we use to clear the floor, others would actually stop dancing just to watch us. we did all kinds of dancing, free style, and ballroom, and from there our relationship just continued to grow.
As we got to know each other, she had told me that she worked at Boeing as a Plumber and I thought that was quite a feat, in that day being a female in a man’s profession was not easy task, Joanie was quite an accomplished plumber, and later on was promoted to running the Waste water Treatment area for that plant. I remember there were times that she taught me a lot about plumbing, like how to sweat copper pipes, skills that I use even today.
After Two and half years of dating and dancing on December 31st, 1990, we were married, she wanted that date, because every year when we celebrated our wedding anniversary, we would always have the next day off for the holiday. It was not easy finding a preacher to marry us on New Year’s Eve, but we found one in the local Tacoma paper. Eventually we moved into a condominium in Central Seattle, that Joanie built herself, another fantastic accomplishment on her part. She got involved with a special project in Seattle called house the people, and she was chosen as one of four families to participate in building the four units which later became their homes. The Mayor of the city even presented them with their keys.
We had many happy years in that place, all the Holidays I remember having there, and Christmas and New year’s where always our favorite. The one thing that I can say for sure is that Joanie Loved God, she never wavered from her beliefs and was always pulling me along with her, to this day I believe that we were a blessed couple because of her, as time went on God provided us with everything. As with a lot of other couples, financially we did not start out in good shape, were had somewhere in the vicinity of eight loans and other debts and I was just getting started in my career, but as time went on we became successful together working as a team, I never really realized it until recently but that word Team, became very significant in our lives together, we always had a good team relationship, she had the ability for ideas, line and design and I had the skills to put them together, we did this time and time again in the projects that we worked together on fixing up our home, whether it was the condo, or the house that we have lived in for 13 years.
Yes, Joanie was a very amazing lady, in most everything she did. Our lives together were not without its trials and tribulations, and ups and downs, but I can honestly say that we loved each other immensely, and we never gave up when times got tough, I remember when she was diagnosed with Breast Cancer in 2011, I was so afraid that I would lose her then, but she was so brave and withstood the surgery, weeks of chemotherapy and radiation treatments, and regardless of all that was she remained in good spirits, and was cancer free after two years.
Joanie loved so many things, she loved her God, she loved music, she loved her dancing, she loved old movies, she loved working in her gardens, she loved shopping and she love fixing herself up with makeup, clothing and jewelry and she never went anywhere without looking absolutely stunning. But mostly I think she love just taking care of me. I miss you Joanie, and I will always miss you, and I will not say goodbye to you, only until we meet again.
I love you my Tiny Dancer
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