Joan Elaine Conkey

Our beautiful Mother, Joan Elaine (Kundrick) Conkey, completed the earthly chapter of her life on

Tuesday, January 23, 2024 to begin the eternal chapter of her life. She is preceded in death by her husband and eternal companion, Donald Samuel Conkey, grandson Phillip Ryan Karski & grandson Donald Samuel Conkey, Jr.  She is survived by children Pamela Karski (Phillip), Laura Ross (Allen), Curtis Conkey (Cathi), Cynthia Porter (Bobby), Denise Barnett, Linda Shaw (Mark), Carrie Jones (Frank) & Richard Pierce (Arta). She was blessed with 26 grandchildren and many great & great

Great grandchildren. Also survived by 3 sisters Barbara Twomey, Julie Mills & Kay (Ed) Walimaa and many nieces & nephews.

 Our Mother lived a long fulfilling life. She was born on April 14, 1934 in Salt Lake City, Utah to John Kundrick & Phyllis Irma 

Barber. She grew up in an Army family and lived in many places, including Japan. She even climbed Mt. Fugi and received the Honored Fugi stick for making that climb. She was a cheer leader in high school and loved to participate in plays at school, in the community and at church. She was very dramatic to the end!  She loved to read.

 She married Donald Samuel Conkey on Feb. 7, 1969.  Our family was sealed for time & eternity in the Mesa Temple on July 17, 1971. This marriage was a gift from God for both of them…a beautiful love story filled with joy and happiness & of course, the trials and tribulations that go along with with this life. His pet name for mom was ‘Doll’.

 Mother was an active member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She was definitely a dynamic leader and handled just about any assignment that was given to her. She loved Relief Society (the church’s women’s organization). She loved teaching both adults and children.

 Mother worked for the federal government for many years as an Administrative Assistant to the director of Health and Human Services.  After retirement, our parents served a mission for the Church in Toronto, Ontario, Canada in August 1994.

Mother played a major role with the steering committee for the Festival of the Family, which was the largest tribute ever held in North America honoring the family. After returning home Mother served in the Georgia Atlanta Temple, which was one of her greatest loves.

 Serving in the Church was not her only love. She loved serving in the community. She served as president of the Cherokee County Republican Women’s Club. She won a state award for the scrap book she created preserving the history of the club.

She also worked for the Cherokee County Board of Election as a poll manager for many years. She loved seeing our neighbors come out to vote and she loved talking to them. She loved talking to her neighbors as she went on her daily walks and loved the dogs that were the neighborhood walkers. She loved having conversations with family, friends & anyone that would come by to visit.

She was also an active part of the “Red Hat Society” and loved to dress in her red and purple to participate in their activities.

 She loved activities with her grandchildren. Every Christmas she would gather all of her local grandchildren & take them downtown Atlanta to ride the ‘Pink Pig’,  a monorail on the roof  top of Rich’s dept. store and then Breakfast with Santa in the Magnolia Room at Rich’s. A fun Christmas tradition. Another fun activity were the tea parties she had with grandchildren. She would get out all of her red hat paraphernalia for the kids to dress up in & then served “tea” & cookies on her red hat dishes. So much fun.

 On a beautiful cloudy day, our dad would ask Mother, “which beautiful cloud is ours, Doll?”  She has now picked out “their cloud” and I know there is so much joy & happiness and dancing and rejoicing now that they are together again.  Our dad finally has his “Doll” back.