Joann Lee Lockwood

1942 - 2024

Joann Lee Lockwood

January 31, 1942 - September 26, 2024

Irmo, South Carolina - Joann Lee Reetz Lockwood, 82, of Irmo, SC, passed away on Thursday evening, September 26, 2024. Born on January 31, 1942, in Rose City, MI, she was the daughter of the late Dwight "Bud" and Evelyn Reetz. She spent her final hours surrounded by her children and wrapped in their love for her. She was the matriarch of an unusually large family but always found time and love for each of us. We are all feeling her loss deeply.

Joann lived her life enjoying the two things that were most important to her, her family and her love of travel. She and her husband Buddy, to whom she was married for nearly 50 years wed in 1959. She lived her young adult years as the spouse of a military man which sent them on assignments all over the United States, and to France, Germany, and Okinawa, Japan. Arriving in Germany in the early seventies for their second duty station in Europe, one of their first purchases was a pop-up camper. Nearly every weekend and holiday they packed up the camper, their five children and the dog, and drove off to discover the excitement of a new country, eventually seeing most of Europe. They embraced these experiences, collecting friends, memories, and souvenirs. To this day Joann has stayed in contact with families she and Buddy befriended in France, Germany, and Luxembourg over 50 years ago. When some of these friends came to visit the US, she took pleasure in returning their graciousness in having shared their country with her, and proudly showed off the United States to them. Well into her seventies, she continued to travel, returning a half dozen times to Europe, and fulfilling a lifelong dream of touring China.

Her family was very dear to her. She was overjoyed when she learned she was going to be a grandmother for the first time. The very next day she went out and bought yarn and started crocheting a tiny pair of baby booties. The day after that, she went out and bought herself a brand-new Porsche. One of her favorite pictures is one of her first two grandchildren, two toddler boys, sitting in the driver's seat of the Porsche. In the coming years she crocheted 11 more pairs of booties in excitement and pride over every new addition to the family. However, Buddy told her that she could no longer congratulate herself with a new sports car in celebration of each new grandbaby.

She retired from the Federal Government where she had been employed at Fort Belvoir, Virginia. She and Buddy then moved to the Shenandoah Mountains where they bought a golf cart and a house on the golf course. They then spent many happy years on the greens. When they'd had enough of northern winters, they relocated to Columbia, SC where Joann had family and had once lived as a child. While sad to leave her Virginia home and friends, military life had taught her to quickly acclimate and she immersed herself in her new life by becoming a docent in the Columbia Museum of Art and creating a close circle of friends and neighbors in Irmo, SC.

She is preceded in death by her husband, Eston "Buddy" Lockwood, her daughter, Tonya Downey, her son-in-law, Richard Vandermark, her brother, Gary Reetz, and her sister, Karen Benjamin.

She is survived by her children Suzanne Gilbert and her husband Bruce, Karen Locke and her husband Mark, Sherri Reynolds and her husband Tom, and Brett Lockwood and his wife Haley and by a sister, Vivian Dowey.

She was the beloved Nana of 14 grandchildren. Chase, Devin, Lindsey, Kayleigh, Camrey, Elyse, Orry, Casey, Ryanne, Andrew, Brianna, Conner, Eston, and Sloan. She was also the great grandmother of 19 children, Madelyn, Amelia, Evelyn, Jax, Ethan, Owen, Bennett, Valerie, Ava, Lincoln, Theodore, Arya, Channing, Sutton, Blake, Ashlyn, Zoey, Maxwell and Milo.

Joann's family would like to invite family and friends to join them in Joann's home at 104 Bithynia Circle, Irmo, SC to share in a celebration of her life on October 5, 2024. Everyone is welcome to come and go at their convenience any time between1:00 and 5:00 p.m.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to The American Heart Association.