Joan Welsch Close

1930 - 2016

August 4, 1930 - August 2, 2016 Joan Welsch Close passed away unexpectedly on August 2, 2016, two days away from her 86th Birthday. Joan was born in El Paso, Texas where her grandfather owned a sheet metal factory that purportedly made copper canteens used by Pancho Villa in the Mexican Revolution. Joan's father, Wilbur Daniel Welsch (who met and married Marion Jackson in Hollywood, California while working for the movie studios), owned and operated Standard Oil "filling" stations and drove a Checker Cab. In 1944, Joan along with her father, Wilbur Daniel Welsch, mother, Marion Jackson Welsch and sisters Anne (Bauerfeind) and Cora (Hood) moved to Orange, California, and eventually settled in Laguna Beach, where her father purchased a Liquor Store business in South Laguna (Arch Bay Liquors, which still exists today).Joan attended Laguna Beach High School, then Colorado Women's College in Denver for two years before attending San Diego State College (University) in 1950. It was there, October, 1951, that Joan's girlfriend, Marcia Huffman, introduced Joan to San Diego native Duane "Bud" Close while they were building a homecoming Float for Alpha Gamma Delta Sorority. Joan and Bud were engaged on Valentine's Day, 1952 and married June 29, 1952 in Laguna Beach.After honeymooning in Yosemite, Joan and Bud settled into a house with two acres of avocado and orange groves in El Cajon. Bud needed land to build his greenhouses for his Orchid hobby. It was there that they raised their two sons, Dan and Gary.Joan and Bud were long-time high school teachers in the Grossmont Union High School District, Joan from Mt. Miguel and Bud from Valhalla.Both before and after retiring from teaching, Joan and Bud travelled extensively around the world and when back home in California spent almost every other weekend at the "Ranch," their rustic high desert cabin surrounded by rocks and sagebrush in east San Diego County. Attending the gym weekly for exercise and yoga, Joan was also an active Bridge player and spent time with her "wild and idle" group of friends and San Diego State University sorority sisters. She lived life to the fullest up until her death.Joan is survived by her lifelong companion, best friend and husband of 64 years, Bud, sons Dan (Donna) and Gary, sisters Anne Bauerfeind and Cora Hood, grandchildren Garrett Close and Kristin Hinck (Greg), Tom Close and Phoebe Johnson (Tim) and great grandson Owen Walker Hinck.A celebration of Life is scheduled for Saturday, September 24, 2016.Donations are suggested to the Ronald McDonald House Charities of San Diego.