May 2, 1932 to May 7, 2022
With great sadness the family of Joan Marie Hobart McPherson announces the loss of their mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother on May 7, 2022, just five days following her 90th birthday and the day before Mother’s Day. Joan was the mother of Lake Charles resident Scott McPherson.
Joan was born May 2, 1932, in Portland, Oregon. Although raised in Portland, Joan’s parents established a presence at Cannon Beach, Oregon, in the 1940s, a presence that remains to this day. Joan instilled in her children and grandchildren a love for and memories of the ocean beaches that will live on long after her mortal passing.
Joan graduated from Franklin High School in Portland and then entered Oregon State College (now University) where she met a guy from Pampa, Texas, Robert David (“Tex”) McPherson. Bob and Joan were married six days following graduation and began a wonderful life together that lasted until Bob’s passing in 2012.
Bob’s military career brought them to Mississippi and then Japan where they greeted their firstborn, Scott Alvin McPherson. Post-military the two returned to Oregon where they greeted their second born, Sally Joan McPherson. Eventually Bob’s work brought them to Bellevue, Washington, where they completed their family with the arrival of Stacy Ellen McPherson. From Bellevue they found their true home, the place where they knew they wanted to raise their family, Walla Walla, Washington. Once there Joan became an educator, first in the classroom and later in the library
After Bob’s and Joan’s respective retirements, the two began traveling in earnest. They especially enjoyed long trips to Lake Charles where they could spend extended, quality time with their grandchildren, taking and retrieving them from school and relishing similar activities that nearby grandparents enjoy every day.
Joan is survived by her children, Scott (Kathy) of Lake Charles, Louisiana, Sally (Melinda) of Portland, Oregon, and Stacy of Walla Walla; her grandchildren, Sally Brockman (George) of Lake Charles, Louisiana, and Robbie (Mallory) of Portland, Oregon; and her great-grandson, Theodore Lewis Brockman. She was predeceased by her husband, Bob, her parents, Alvin and Phyllis Hobart, her brother, Arthur Hobart, and her sister, Betty Butcher Cheadle.
There are many people the family would like to thank for the help and care given to Joan in her final years, but they are too numerous to name.
Scott, Kathy, Sally (“’Lil Sal”), and Robbie would particularly like to thank Scott’s sisters, Sally (“Big Sal”) and Stacy for doing the lion’s share of the care Joan needed in her later years. A celebration of life for Joan will be held this summer in Walla Walla followed by a private interment that will take place at Smyrna Congregational Church near Canby, Oregon.