By school age, she and her brother Herbert (1937-2002) lived in Houston, that big city filled with country people, to where her parents, Horace Herbert Parker (1916-2014) and Jimmie Mae (Allen) Parker (1913-1979) had moved in the early 1940’s. JoAnn and Herbert attended neighborhood schools in Houston’s Northside- Sherman Elementary, Marshall Junior High, and Jeff Davis High School. Her exciting teenage years, shared with June Petrovich, LaWanda, Delores…and many other neighborhood friends, became a little constrained when she had to take on chaperone-duty for little brother Salty (Tommy, b.1948).
JoAnn eloped with a young airman, Don Ray Bethune (1936-2008) in 1954, and spent the next 4 years in Sherman, Texas where she gave birth to her first child, Brenda Bethune (1957-1989). After Don’s military service the couple moved back to Houston where JoAnn gave birth to her final two children- Kirk Bethune (1960) and Kimberly (Bethune) Sims (1963) and her husband Kenneth.
JoAnn loved her numerous grandchildren: Courtney (Sims) Edmondson, Shaun Sims, Zoo Zoo Sims, Erin Carter, Misti Bethune, Tyler Bethune, Regan Bethune, and little Stori Bethune (1979-1982). And her great-grandchildren: Addie Edmondson, Avery Edmondson, Samiya Sims, Eli Sims, Jameson Sims, Jaxson Bethune, and Chance Tuma. Her favorite nephew, Nick Parker, loved her cooking. Josie enjoyed life and dealt with problems on an as-needed basis. Crossword puzzles and crime novels were daily pleasures. Breakfast was not to be missed. Dogs and cats, to share life with.
Slipping through life smoothly, a thousand things came her way in boom-town Houston. What interesting stories JoAnn told of all the places she had worked and all the people she had met. And what incredible dreams! As vivid and well-scripted as the old movies she loved to watch (and usually including the same Hollywood celebrities, with her dream-self playing a leading role.) Old movies, Dr.Pepper, a slice of coconut pie…See you later Alligator.
The family will receive friends from 5:00pm-9:00pm, on Monday, November 29th, at Forest Park Lawndale Funeral Home, 6900 Lawndale Street, Houston, TX 77023. A funeral service will begin at 11:00am, on Tuesday, November 30th, followed by a graveside ceremony at Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery.
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