Joanne Wargo Gilcrease

Joanne Wargo Gilcrease (born Joanne Frances Wargo), age 79, of Tamarac, Florida, passed away on Sunday, November 16, 2025, of acute renal failure. She was at peace in hospice in Coral Springs surrounded by family and friends after a recent cancer diagnosis. Joanne was also diagnosed with COPD and Parkinson's disease many years ago.
Born on October 1, 1946, in Cleveland, Ohio, Joanne was born to John J. Wargo Sr. and Anne C. Wargo. She grew up in Berea, Ohio. In her early years, she attended St. Mary's Catholic School and Magnificat High School. Joanne was wife to Joseph (Joe) Gilcrease and married on April 8, 2011. She was sister to John J. Wargo, Jr. (Marlene - d. 2017), Frank J. Groh-Wargo (Sharon) and Michael J. Wargo (Ginny) and mother to Amy M. Skiba and Kristen M. Sanger (Robert).
As a young adult, Joanne attended both Bowling Green State University and Baldwin Wallace University.
Joanne was preceded in death by her parents, John and Anne Wargo (d. 1996 and 1997) and her youngest brother, Michael (d. 2021).
In addition to her husband, brothers and daughters, Joanne is survived by her brother-in-law, William (Bill) Gilcrease (Gigi), stepdaughter, Barbara Deaton (Trevor); cousins including Consolina and Christopher Templeman; grandchildren, Sydney, Jonas, Kai, Collin, Wyatt, Kobi, Naomi and John; and nieces and nephews, Kellie, Scott, Lauren, Jacob and Danny. Joanne also has many family members in Reggio di Calabria, Italy, where her mother was born. Although she never had the opportunity to meet them in person, she continued to keep in touch with them.
While growing up in Berea, Ohio, Joanne shared many stories of living next door to her Aunt Frances and Uncle Charlie. They spent many years there and created forever memories with her siblings and cousins as they all grew up as one family supporting one another.
Joanne's career included association work for many organizations in both administration and event planning in Northern Ohio and South Florida. She even had a short-term opportunity to work with the Atlanta Olympic Committee in 1996, and even helped her daughter, Kristen, secure a short-term position there as well.
Joanne traveled all over the world and loved to experience the best of food, restaurants and accommodations. She loved cooking and always enjoyed the finer ingredients. She raised her daughters to enjoy all kinds of cuisines and even her grandchildren would call her for cooking instruction and recipes. She was very generous and loved hosting and entertaining family and friends. She loved family with all her heart and had a knack for remembering and recognizing everyone's birthdays, anniversaries, and special dates. Joanne was an avid reader of thrillers, military, and spy fiction. Joanne enjoyed cheering on some college and professional sports, and one of her favorite things to do was watch football. As a young girl being raised in Cleveland, you can bet she was a die-hard Browns fan. The San Francisco 49ers took a close second, though. Later in life she took a liking to hockey and the Florida Panthers got most of her attention. She was a history buff, especially knowing all about World War II of which her father, John, was a HUMP pilot (WWII-era pilot who flew supply missions over the Himalayan Mountains into China). It excited her to share the stories her father shared with her. Joanne was very proud of her mother's (Anne), grandmother's (Consolata) and aunt's (Maria and Frances) Italian heritage. Her sister-in-law, Sharon, initiated the search of her Italian family, and ultimately found them! Even though her Aunt Maria still resided in Reggio di Calabria (formerly Gallina) in 2005, she was never able to visit Italy but a forever connection was established for the rest of the family.
A Celebration of Life will be arranged in the coming months.
In lieu of flowers, the family graciously requests memorials, instead, to the Charities listed bellow.