Joan was born on March 24, 1937 in Houston, Texas, to Felix Monroe Laird and Gladys Kathleen Pringle. Her family lived in East Houston on Ley Road where they had a little 3-acre farm. Joan started to school at Smiley Elementary and finished the first grade there. The family lived on the farm in East Houston until Joan was seven years old when they moved into the city of Houston. She lived on Avenue F and went to Franklin Elementary through the sixth grade and then Edison Junior High through the 9th grade. While there, she played the clarinet in the band. She finished her schooling at Milby High School, where she was active in the CSU and was Sgt. of the Coed Cadettes Company B. In her last year at Milby, she sang in the chorale group. While on the beach in Galveston, TX, in the summer of 1954, she met a young cadet by the name of Donald Baretincic, who was stationed at Ellington AFB, Houston. They were married on April 15, 1955.
After graduation from Milby, Joan followed her husband to MacDill AFB in Tampa, Florida, where their daughter, Deborah, was born. She continued to follow her husband throughout his military career and was a wonderful mother and homemaker. While Don was stationed at Vandenberg AFB near Santa Maria, California, Joan worked for the Bank of America and continued a banking career through the next years. After Don's retirement from the Air Force, they found themselves in Austin, TX, where Joan worked for two different banks, the Bank of Austin and Allliance Bank. After that, she changed her career to working for the State of Texas at the Department of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. She retired from work in 1995. She and Don moved to a wonderful retirement community, Blue Lake Estates, near Marble Falls, TX, up in the Hill Country, where they enjoyed many delightful years by Lake LBJ entertaining their grandchildren during the summers boating and swimming. In December of 1995, Joan became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and remained an active and faithful member until her death.
She is survived by her husband of 64 years, Donald Baretincic; her daughter, Deborah Guasp of Colorado Springs, CO; a dear sister, Peggy DuVall of Dayton, TX; two grandchildren, Rachel (Jesse) Doane and Megan Gonzales, both of Denver, CO; two great-grandchildren, Erika and Dominic; and three nieces, Tammy (Terry) Gonzales, Margie Coxie, and Jeannine Mathews, all from Dayton, TX, . She is also survived by numerous beloved grand nieces, grand nephews, and cousins.
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