Joanna M. Stutesman's Obituary
Joanna (Smith) Stutesman of Lakewood passed away on July 10, 2016.
Born February 24, 1934, in Cleveland, Ohio, she was a loving daughter of William and Esther Smith. She was raised in Cleveland and attended West Technical High School.
Joanna married the love of her life, Darrel Stutesman, on July 14, 1956, in Cleveland, Ohio. And so began their life of travel. They lived in Cleveland for the first four years of their marriage while Darrel finished college. Upon Darrel taking a job with Weyerhaeuser, they would ultimate move 10 times during his career at Weyerhaeuser.
The first assignment was a move to Longview, Washington, where their daughter Karen was born. Quickly, they were transferred to Newark, New Jersey. From Newark, their next move found them in Memphis, Tennessee, where their daughter Janet and son Gregory were born. In 1963, they relocated to Nashville and remained there until 1964 when they moved to Tacoma. Two years later, they found themselves transferred again, this time to Denver, Colorado. After two winters in Denver, there was a short nine month stint back in Tacoma before moving to Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 1973, Darrel was transferred to Atlanta, Georgia, and the final transfer was back to Tacoma in 1974 where she lived the rest of her life.
Fortunately for Joanna, her passion was interior decorating and she loved decorating all their new homes. During her travels, she collected antiques and was a master at refinishing furniture. Many of these treasures remain in the family to this day.
In addition to decorating her own home, she was frequently asked by friends to help decorate their homes. She had a knack for pulling items from other rooms or within closets and creating an entirely new look. A husband of one of her friends always knew something would be different when he left for work that day if Joanna was coming over for a visit.
Joanna was a master repair artist and could fix just about anything. Her friends and family would routinely bring her things to fix and repair. She worked for many years with Susie Wiese of Susan Ford Antiques and was the in-house repair artist for all of Susie’s Christmas decorations. One of Karen’s boyfriends jokingly teased that she should be included as part of a dowry to sweeten the pot for marriage.
Joanna was passionate about giving back to her community. She is well known for her work with the Daffodil Festival as a past Queen Mother, a board member of Greater Lakes Mental Health Association, a committee member for the new Clover Park High School, and was a very active and supportive parent with all her children’s activities.
Gam Gam, as her grandsons so affectionately called her, was a constant presence in their lives. She would volunteer as an art docent in their school, attend many of their school and sporting events, and was always willing to lend a hand with school homework. Drew remembers an elementary school project when he asked for Gam Gam’s help and she whipped out a level to make sure it was perfect. She was a perfectionist. Sean channeled Gam Gam’s artistic talent on a biology project where they used an artist’s mannequin to depict the various parts of a human cell. He was the only one in his class that scored a 100% on that assignment.
In 2011, Joanna was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. Darrel was her primary care provider with some assistance from aides until last year when she moved into a memory care facility. Even though the disease was robbing her of her mind, she still had that amazing sense of humor and would beam when Darrel walked into the room.
Joanna is survived by her husband, Darrel; her daughter Karen of Seattle, her daughter Janet and husband Chris of Woodinville, and two grandsons Sean and Andrew of Woodinville. She was preceded in death by her son Greg, her brothers Robert, Ray, and William Jr. as well as her parents, William and Esther.
Her family will always remember her as a loving and devoted wife, the most amazing mother to her children, and an involved and nurturing grandmother. She has touched so many lives and will be forever missed.
Services will be held on Thursday, July 28 at 2:00 PM with a reception to follow at Little Church on the Prairie, 6310 Motor Ave. SW, Lakewood, Washington.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Great Lakes Mental Health Association. http://www.glmhc.org/donate-now/
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