Joanne J. Hackerott

Joanne Jarvis Hackerott (Valko) 1924 – 2025

It is with heavy hearts that we announce the passing of Joanne Hackerott who left us peacefully on July 12th, 2025 at the age of 101 at Comfort Care Homes Morningside in Wichita, Kansas.

Joanne was born on January 11, 1924 in El Dorado, Kansas to William Kile Jarvis, Sr. and Esta Pearl Jarvis (West). Her family moved to Wichita, Kansas in 1932. Joanne grew up in the Riverside area of Wichita and graduated from North High School in 1942. Shortly afterwards she met Henry "Hank" Valko while he was in Wichita playing in a baseball tournament and they were married on October 13, 1942 in Macon, Georgia where Hank was stationed with the Army. Joanne and Hank relocated back to Riverside in Wichita in 1944 and had two sons, Henry "John" Valko, Jr. and Richard "Dick" Valko.

Joanne worked as a secretary for 25 years with Levi Rymph and then as a salesclerk at Sears and Roebuck well into her 80s. She married her second husband, Fred Hackerott in Manhattan, Kansas. She had many interests in her life. She learned to read Braille and volunteered her time for many years at the Kansas Association for the Blind and Visually Impaired where she made lifelong friends. She enjoyed bird watching and was active in the Wichita Audubon Society for many years. She was an avid photographer and always had a camera with her wherever she went. She also had a great interest in genealogical research and spent many years researching her ancestors and relatives while assisting other families with research at the Midwest Historical and Genealogical Society. She became very close with the staff at MHGS downtown on Main Street. She attended services at Woodland United Methodist Church for several decades. Joanne always enjoyed spending time with her family and friends and she will be greatly missed.

She is survived by cousins, nieces and nephews, and by her grandchildren Curtis Valko (Beth Shipley), Derek Valko (Brandy Rowell), Krystal Valko, and Sonya Valko as well as her great grandchildren Dominic Valko (Lydia Williams), Saul Luciano, and Lola Luciano.

Joanne lived longer than nearly all of her friends and immediate family. While this was a great accomplishment for her, losing everyone she had known for her lifetime took a considerable toll on her emotionally. She remained independent in her own home until she was 97 years old, and she would not hesitate to offer to meet friends for meals, concerts, presentations and church services. She actively attended family events on the Jarvis and Valko sides, as well as the many other families and friends she became involved with.

Joanne requested cremation and did not want a formal funeral service.

Joanne is preceded in death by her parents, William Kile Jarvis, Sr. and Esta Pearl Jarvis (West); her two sons, Henry "John" Valko, Jr. and Richard "Dick" Valko (Sheila Valko). Her daughterin-law, Patricia "Pat" Irene Valko (Ridder). Her first husband Henry John "Hank" Valko, Sr. Her second husband Fredrick William "Fred" Hackerott. Her siblings Gerald "Jerry" Jarvis (Bonnie Lee McDaniel), Evelyn Avery (Odell Avery), William Kile Jarvis, Jr. (Kathryn Barbour), Elbert Dean "Al" Jarvis, and James "Jim" Francis Jarvis (Kay Douglass).