Joan Ellen Weis

1941 - 2024

Joan Ellen Weis, daughter of Arthur and Kathryn (Greiff) Ziegler, was born May 18, 1941 in Gorman township, Minnesota. She attended Country school and graduated from Perham high school in 1959. She worked at the Perham hospital and cleaned and sterilized surgical instruments and much to her chagrin would occasionally be pulled in to help the surgeon. After this she moved to Minneapolis to work for IDS doing offset printing.
She married Robert Weis in 1962 and honeymooned on a road trip that took them south ending in Flagstaff. They ended up delivering mail from Sedona through Cottonwood. Upon returning home they moved to Alaska driving the original dirt Alcan Highway with the company of her parents. While Bob worked as an operating engineer, the growing family camped out during the construction season. This took them to Livengood, Glennallen and Mentasta, where they lived in a mad trapper's cabin surrounded by wolves and bears. When the children were old enough for school, Fairbanks became their permanent home. Here they built a log home on the edge of an active gravel pit. She developed this into an oasis on a lake, full of flowers, trees and fresh food from the garden. She was an advocate for the arts and education, ferrying her kids to riding lessons, horse shows, music lessons, sport games, sewing everything from barbie clothes to brides maid dresses.
Joan took the road less travelled driving up, down and through North America multiple times. Her adventurous spirit allowed her to live a full life, take risks on where she lived and expand her horizons through her many adventurous activities. This included canoeing, rafting, sailing, cycling, horses, hiking decades in the Grand Canyon and surrounding areas, as well as many other activities with her family.
She had a keen interest in photography which led to classes in photo-journalism, published pictures and eventually journalism classes. This led to her compilation of "The First Medicine Man" tales of native folklore. She wrote the afterward for this. Then wrote her book about "Grandma Wright" local matriarch to the Wright family. She worked as a bookkeeper for Don and Judy Wright, and went on with her business as JW's Consulting Services to manage the downtown Key Bank building and surrounding properties, until her retirement. She enjoyed traveling with her husband and Chompers their faithful dog.
Joan had many friends in town and had a propensity for collecting people into her life. She was never too busy for friends, family, distant relatives and the neighboring families. They would gather at her house, and be provided with what was needed, food, a couch to sleep on, a space to talk and grow up or just friendship.
We will miss Joan every day, for her love, laughter and the mischievous smile you would occasionally receive. You are the best mom, we love you.
She is survived by her loving husband, Bob/Robert; children, Lisa (John), Bill (Eileen) Phyllis (Dennis) and Cindy (Jim); grandchildren, Robert (Liz), Ashley (Eric), Adam, Maraya (Brett) and Eric; and great-grandchildren, Charlie and Lucca.
A memorial service will be held at 3 p.m., Saturday July 20, 2024 at Zion Lutheran Church, 2982 Davis Rd., Fairbanks, AK, 99709.