Joan Louise Malone

The incomparable and effervescent Joan Louise “Jodi” Malone, a national advocate for children’s mental health services, passed away Feb. 26, 2026, after a valiant struggle with ALS, the incurable neurological disorder also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. She was 73.

Jodi lit up a room with her quick wit and gregarious personality, yet could also stare down any threat, especially when it involved children or family. A beloved mother, grandmother, sister and best friend, Jodi had a strong desire for fairness and social justice, and supported many such charitable causes. She also loved to play roulette (and won!), and she collected bourbon long before it was fashionable. She so appreciated the Manhattans and Old Fashioneds neighbors brought when she was sick. She mobilized an entire village of support from people who received as much from Jodi as she received from them. She so spoiled her pets, everyone said they wanted to come back in their next life as Jodi’s dog, cat, bird or bunny.

A celebration of Jodi’s life will be held at 11 a.m. March 21, 2026, at Covenant Presbyterian Church, with a reception following. Interment will be private in the columbarium beneath the church bells that uplifted her for more than 30 years in her nearby home.

Born May 29, 1952, in Canton, Ohio, to Clayton and Margaret Malone, Joan was the middle of three children and the only girl, which of course made her special. On a boat trip to Mackinac Island with her grandmother, she wrote a letter home describing the wonderful time they were having and noting that “all the sailors like me best” – a claim that became an endless source of teasing.

Jodi graduated from Canton Central Catholic High School in 1970, where she excelled in sports, helping blaze the trail for Title IX to open opportunities for girls. She earned a bachelor’s degree in sociology from Edgecliff College in 1974, and a master’s degree in criminal justice from Xavier University in 1976, both in Cincinnati. While she embraced the best of her Catholic teaching, she did not impose it on others.

During college, Jodi may have been the only woman bartender at the popular McCarthy’s pub in Cincinnati. She went on to work as a psychiatric social worker in Cincinnati, where she met her husband Jim Wetmore.

The couple soon started a family and moved to Charlotte in 1980, where Jodi began a long career in children’s advocacy. She worked as a Guardian ad Litem and later led Mecklenburg’s “Willie M” program, a landmark court-mandated system of care for adolescents with severe behavioral and mental health issues. She then led Mecklenburg County’s Child and Adolescent Mental Health and Substance Abuse Services.

A 1990 graduate of Leadership Charlotte, Jodi served as an expert witness and consultant in lawsuits and consent decrees in at least 10 states – and was nationally recognized in the textbook “Making Child Welfare Work.”

Jodi went on to run New Hope Carolinas, a psychiatric hospital for 150 youth in Rock Hill, South Carolina, from 1998 to 2006. She then joined the leadership of Sylvan Learning Centers, always maneuvering to give scholarships to those in need.

Despite her successful career, many felt Jodi missed her true calling as a sports commentator. She frequently shouted at the TV while watching sports just seconds before the commentator made the same observation. Jodi was an inaugural PSL owner at Carolina Panthers stadium, where her name and her children’s names are engraved beneath a Panther statue at the East gate.

Although she had traveled widely, ALS cut short a formidable bucket list Jodi had planned for retirement. To call ALS a brutal disease is insufficient for a disorder that took away Jodi’s ability to walk, talk, eat and breathe. Outrageously, it has been 87 years since New York Yankee Lou Gehrig delivered his famous speech making the public widely aware of this progressive, neurodegenerative illness – yet somehow, we haven’t found the will to cure it.

Jodi diagnosed herself in February 2024, which doctors soon confirmed, then began a devastating descent into the loss of abilities. But she pushed through with grit and grace: Christmas in July, a family vacation, legions of friends (old and new) stopping by, relishing their laughs and diminishing time with Jodi. She especially loved time with her children and grandchildren. Jodi danced (for hours) at her daughter’s wedding in September 2025, despite being confined to her wheelchair and tethered to her ventilator. In October, she accompanied her grandsons trick-or-treating.

The Joe Martin ALS Foundation marveled at the turnout of 71 people in support of Jodi at their 2025 fundraiser. This February, Jodi beat pneumonia and resumed playfully dancing with her hands, joking with visitors, and speaking to us with her eyes – before pneumonia took hold a second time.

Jodi was preceded in death by her parents and a menagerie of pets: dogs Maxie and Wesley, cats Tigger and Little Bit, bunnies Cuddles and Thumper, lovebird New Hope, and ducks Pukey and Barfey.

She is survived by her son Christopher Wetmore, daughter Betsy and Justin Cardone, grandsons Clayton and Cooper Wetmore, brothers Breen Malone (Sheri Meyer) and Mark Malone (Robert Blackman), and extended family of choice Liz Chandler, Sally Malone, Jim and Ann Wetmore, Laurie Cunningham, Laurie Beddinghaus, the Presleys and countless others.

Jodi wanted to offer her deepest thanks to Dr. April Sunshine Caperna (Via Health Partners) for her endless patience and expert clinical guidance, Dr. Bjorn Oskarsson (Mayo Clinic), nurses Fanny Corea and Jenny Cardozo, speech therapist Melanie Molinaro and the multitude of dog walkers, cooks and visitors who brought her some peace (and Manhattans).

In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to the Joe Martin ALS Foundation at https://joemartinalsfoundation.org or Via Health Partners (hospice and palliative care) at https://www.viahp.org.