Joan Catherine Witherspoon

AUMSVILLE - Joan Catherine Witherspoon died on October 6, 2005 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. Joan was born in Hastings, Nebraska on November 24, 1915, the third of eight children. Joan Catherine Bohan married Roy Witherspoon on July 3, 1939. Mom was a homemaker and worked at Del Monte Cannery in Salem for ten years. She raised eleven children and provided advice and guidance in the raising of 22 grandchildren, 29 great-grandchildren, and 5 great-great-grandchildren. Mom enjoyed playing Pinochle, Scrabble, gardening, sewing, mending (including leaving her signature pins still in the clothes), quilting, doing crossword puzzles, writing letters, and taking her annual trip on the Greyhound Bus ("the dog") to see friends and relatives in distant states. These trips were the highlight of the year for Mom. She always found someone on the bus who needed a "few bucks to buy a hamburger" and she was more than willing to help them. When she returned, we heard about all the people she met on her trips and she recounted their stories of where they were from and where they were going. Giving to others was very important to Mom. Mom saw a lot of change in her life and also experienced more than her share of tragedy. But through it all, her faith in God and her family never wavered. Mom touched many lives, some that she never knew. Joan was preceded in death by her husband, Roy; sons, Robert, Tony, Horace; sisters, Elizabeth, Sister Eileen Marie, Mary; and brothers, John, Tony, Paul, Patrick, and Frank. Joan is survived by her daughters and sons-in-law, Jacquie and Conrad Spenner, Pat and Mike Thomas, Cathy and Charles Ames; sons and daughters-in-law, Joe and Cathy Witherspoon, Mike and Eydie Witherspoon, Frank and Lynn Witherspoon; daughter, Eileen Witherspoon; son, John Witherspoon; brother, Tom Byrne. We will all miss Mom terribly, but will always look to her for inspiration in tough times. Rosary will be held at 7 p.m., Sun., Oct. 9 and Mass will be held at 10 a.m., Mon., Oct. 10, both at St. Boniface Catholic Church, Sublimity. Private interment will be at Willamette National Cemetery, Portland. Contributions may be made to St. Mary's Grade School in Stayton, Oregon. Arrangements are by North Santiam Funeral Service, Stayton.