Lois JoAnne Bush

Lois JoAnne Bush passed away peacefully Thursday, August 21, 2025, at 12:07 a.m., after an evening surrounded by family sharing food, laughter, and song. She was 95 years old.

Born on November 8, 1929, in American Fork, Utah, JoAnne was the beloved daughter of Edna Maude and Elisha Henry Boley. One of four sisters, she grew up in a close-knit family that lived through the trials of the Great Depression with generosity and grace. Her father owned the county seat market, a vital hub for the whole Utah Valley, where he extended credit to struggling families with no expectation of repayment-a legacy of kindness JoAnne carried throughout her life. To honor her dear father, she continued the tradition of fresh grapefruit every Christmas as a lasting symbol of gratitude during meager times of WWII when fruit was rationed.

From a young age, she and her sisters were very much like the girls in "Little Women"-each one bright, creative, and capable, often assigned to tutor and guide younger students. JoAnne was known for her musical talent; She played piano, organ, clarinet (first chair), and the marimba-sometimes on tour with her father across Utah. She was also a leader in school, president of practically every club according to her husband, Elsmore William Bush.

Having known each other since early childhood, JoAnne and Bill ended up celebrating 72 years of devoted marriage together. Joanne dutifully supported her husband as he made his way through an incredible career in Engineering. Early on in their marriage while Bill worked at a military facility in White Sands, New Mexico, Joanne worked as a secretary to German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun, mastering shorthand and navigating scientific jargon with her usual poise and intelligence despite having to decipher his words through a thick German accent.

JoAnne and Bill eventually settled in San Diego, California, where she built a loving home, raised her four children, and hosted neighbors and friends all the while Bill did his part in ending of the Cold War with his Engineering and worked as president of Cubic Western Data and Cubic Defense. Whether leading in the Relief Society, Young Women, Primary, or ward choir, there was hardly a calling in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints she did not fulfill with grace and commitment. She even served as an organist for her church into her 80s.

JoAnne was known for being stylish, popular, smart, and endlessly capable. She was a wonderful chef with an elegantly kept home. As a grandmother, her fruit trays consisted of perfectly cubed bites with tiny toothpicks sticking out of each one; she showed her caring and love in every slightest detail. In total her progeny include four children, 15 grandchildren, and 19 great-grandchildren with more on their way.

Joanne spoke of her life as a ripple in water, making further ripples on and on into eternity. Her life was in fact a wave, a force that made magnificent beauty happen through faith, family, music, and service-and those blessed to know her will forever remember her strength, her wisdom, and the loving twinkle in her eyes.