Joan Huntsberry Obituary

March 4, 1915 - Feb. 12, 2007

SALEM, Ore. - Our loving mother was born March 4, 1915, in Wichita, Kan. She was adopted as an infant by Jonathan and Julia Whiles. Sadly, Jonathan died several months later and she was raised by her widowed mother, Julia, as an only child in Cushing, Okla. Joan learned she was adopted when her mother died in the 1960s. Joan began attending a boarding school as a second grader, which later became Cottey College in Nevada, Mo. She returned every year through her junior year of college. She made lifelong friends there and continued to establish strong friendships wherever she moved. She often talked about how she learned to eat everything at girls' school. She snuck a pet cat into her dorm room, leaving the window open so the cat could come and go out the fire escape.
Joan went on to Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., where she graduated. There, she met her husband-to-be, Marshall D. Huntsberry. They married in 1936. They moved often in their early married life as Marshall worked for Gulf Oil Company. They settled in Tulsa, Okla., in the mid-'40s, moving to Billings in 1955. They moved back to Tulsa in the early 1970s and remained there until Marshall's retirement from the Flint Rig and the Flint Steel companies. Joan and Marshall then moved to Salem in 1988. Marshall died in 1998.
She is survived by three children, six grandchildren and six great-grandchildren: son, Dr. Randall Huntsberry of Niwot, Colo., and his three daughters, Joan Huntsberry, Shannon Hawley, married to Dave, and their two children, Kaden and Fiona, also of Niwot, and Claire Huntsberry of Pullman, Wash.; daughter, Marsha Kerr and her husband Bruce of Salem, Marsha's two children, Jonathan Barbo of Talent, married to Emily Coleman, and Allison Simmons of Snohomish, Wash., married to Matt, and their four children, Marshall, Ella, Ava and Sadie, also three step-grandchildren, Karen Bloomster of Beaverton, married to Brian, and their two children, Nathan and Natalie, Scott Kerr of Springfield, married to Toni, and their two children, Ian and Bryce, and Jim Kerr of Lincoln City, married to Stacy; son, Stephen Huntsberry of Tucson, Ariz., his wife Kathy and his son Matthew of Tempe, Ariz.
Above all, Joan loved to dance and always said she'd rather dance than eat. She was a voracious reader and passed on the love of reading to her children and grandchildren. Joan and Marshall used to play gin rummy nightly, and family gatherings always featured rousing games of gin, boys against the girls.
Joan loved to play golf. She and Marshall were members of the Yellowstone Country Club in Billings, Southern Hills Country Club in Tulsa and Illahe Hills Country Club in Salem. They were faithful members of the First Presbyterian Church in every place they lived for over 60 years. She loved animals and was drawn like a magnet to little children and babies. She enjoyed bird watching, the fall colors and flowers. While living in Tulsa, she raised and cared for over 40 beautiful African violets. She could never pass a plant with dead leaves that she didn't stop to pick them off.
As a family, we wish to thank the many loving caregivers who were with Joan over the past 10 years, especially Marie Shrock for her wonderful in-home care of both Joan and Marshall; Barbara O'Dell, their housekeeper; and to all the incredible caring staff at Rosewood Court Residential Alzheimer's Facility, where she lived the last four years.
A family remembrance and celebration of Joan's life was held the past several days, as all her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren gathered to say goodbye and to be with her in her last hours.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be given in her name to the First Presbyterian Church of Salem, the Alzheimer's Foundation or a charity of your choice.
Arrangements are by Virgil T. Golden Funeral Service, Salem.