Joan Hartley of Goodland, a longtime resident of Morningstar Care Home of Neodesha, died Sunday, Feb. 17, 2019, at Morningstar Care Home. She had celebrated her 100th birthday on Dec. 6, 2018.
Funeral services will be at 2 p.m. Thursday at Christ Church in Neodesha under the direction of the Loran Fawcett Chapel. Another funeral service will be at 2 p.m. Saturday at Koons-Russell Funeral Home in Goodland. A private burial with immediate family only will follow at the Brewster Memorial Cemetery.
Joan was born Dec. 6, 1918, in Ames, to John Ira and Blanche (Raney) Miller.
In 1936, she graduated as valedictorian from Moreland High School in Moreland. She attended Fort Hays College where she received her teaching certificate. She taught for several years in a country school in western Kansas.
She was united in marriage to James Willard Hartley on Aug. 24, 1940, at the Methodist parsonage in Goodland. Willard and Joan began their lifetime of farming and ranching, establishing their own farmstead in northeast Sherman County. It remains an active farming operation. They were married for 68 years and were blessed with four daughters, Janet, Judy, JoAnne and Jackie. Willard preceded her in death in 2008.
When her children were young, she was both a 4-H and Brownie Scout leader. She enjoyed watching sporting events, the art of writing letters, playing bridge, golf, horseshoes and fishing. Joan also enjoyed boating, snowmobiling and playing pitch with her daughters. She planned many trips which included trips to two Worlds Fairs.
Joan is survived by three daughters, Judy Siruta of Goodland, JoAnne Harper and her husband, Terry, of Neodesha and Jackie Witherspoon and her husband, Gary, of Shell Knob, Mo.; 17 grandchildren, Jim, Jeff and Joel McNerney, Brian, Scott and John Shuman, Barbara Shafer, Lynn and B.J. Baird, Chanda Shelton, Brooke Baird, Quinn Jones, Abbey Thomas, Wyatt Harper, Kara Broeker, Kyle and Brad Witherspoon; 32 great-grandchildren; two great-great-grandchildren; and many nieces and nephews.
In addition to her husband, she was preceded in death by her parents; one daughter, Janet; four sisters, Irene, Clare, Lucille and Jewell; four brothers, Faye, Jim, Wayne and Jack Miller; and two grandchildren, Travis and Ryan.
Memorial contributions may be made to either the W. A. Rankin Memorial Library of Neodesha or the Goodland Public Library.
Online condolences may be left at loranfawcettfuneralhome.com or koonsrussellfuneralhome.com.
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