Joanie Harper-Brothers

Joanie Harper-Brothers

November 14, 1963

July 6, 2003

And Marshall James

Funeral services are scheduled for Joanie Harper, 39, of Bakersfield, CA, on Wednesday, July 16, 2003, 11 a.m., at the Bakersfield Convention Center, 1001 Truxtun Avenue, Bakersfield, CA. Robert N. Harper, Sr. of Highland Heights Church of Christ, Houston, TX and Eddie L. Harper of Hilltop Church of Christ, Winter Haven, FL, will be officiating with interment following at Hillcrest Memorial Park.

Joanie Harper-Brothers was born November 14, 1963, in Bakersfield, CA, the fifth child of Earnestine Harper. She attended McKinley Elementary School and graduated from Bakersfield High School in 1981. Her higher education was received from Southwestern Christian College in Terrell, TX, where she received her AA degree. Later she attended Pepperdine University.

Joanie was raised in a Christian home and was baptized into Christ at the age of 13, under the ministry of Bro. Berry Minor, Sr. at the Baker Street Church of Christ. She attended the church faithfully along with her mother and children throughout her life. For the past six years she worshipped and served as a dedicated worker with the East Bakersfield Church where Bro. Jack Stewart is the minister.

As a very talented and athletic young woman, Joanie excelled in several sports, especially basketball. In her early days of interscholastic high school girls basketball, she was a standout player at Bakersfield High School. Later, as a prep basketball official, she achieved a Kern County first by becoming the first woman in the area to work on the boys varsity level. In 1994, she began officiating for North Bakersfield Recreation and Park District. She also officiated for Pac-10 Womens basketball and the California Athletic Collegiate Association. Joanie was also employed as campus supervisor for the Bakersfield City School District.

Joanie was a loving Christian mother to her three children and a devoted and faithful wife to her husband, Vincent Brothers. She was a loyal and supportive friend to many with whom she came in contact during her life. In her quiet, unassuming and trusting manner she reached out to assist a number of people in need. She was a loving and dedicated daughter who epitomized the biblical command to honor your mother. She departed this life along with her loving mother and three children on July 6, 2003.

Joanie leaves to mourn her passing her husband, Vincent Brothers of Bakersfield; two sisters, Linda Piggee of Oklahoma City, OK and Helen Elain Byrd of Fresno, CA; two brothers, Robert Nathan Harper and wife, Patsy of Houston, TX and Eddie L. Harper and wife, Jannetta Harper of Winter Haven, FL; two aunts, Helen Booker of Fresno and Maxine Richards of Oklahoma City; one great-aunt, Viola Combs of Dallas; seven nieces, three nephews, six cousins; three close friends, Kelsey Spann, Michelle Baptiste and Avis Henderson; and a host of other relatives, special friends and her East Bakersfield Church family.

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