Joan Claire Chipman

Burial was in Mt. Moriah Cemetery, 10507 Holmes Road, Kansas City, MO 64131, close to her parents.

Joan and her twin Jean were born September 5, 1929 in Lincoln NE, to Harriet Bruce Johnson and Alvin R. Johnson. The Johnsons divorced in 1931 and their mother married Hugh M. Phelps who later adopted the twins.

Joan and Jean spent many happy summers at the farm of their grandparents outside of Mead, NE playing with kittens, chewing “ABC” gum from an aunt and sharing a chicken leg with lots of creamed vegetables, during Sunday dinners.

They grew up in Kansas City until their family moved to Lake of the Forest, during their teen-age years. The girls taught swimming and met many life-long friends at Bonner Springs High School. After high school Joan and Jean went to the Kansas City Art Institute for 2 years and then worked at Hallmark. They were both artists throughout their lives.

In 1950, Joan married Walter “Ned” Chipman and settled in Kansas City, KS where they had their children Laurie and Clayton “Dutch”. Later Joan and Ned moved to Roeland Park KS and four years later their daughter Anne was born.

After Ned died in 1983, Joan worked in an antique store in Overland Park where she and her daughter, Laurie, bought lots of old stuff for themselves and took trips to other antique stores to check the merchandise.

Later, Joan moved to Prescott Arizona because she “always wanted to move to Arizona” after traveling through Flagstaff when she was young. She had a very active social life at the American Legion, where she had many friends.

In 2008, Joan moved back to Kansas City. She lived in Roeland Park with her cat Moo until 2015, when she moved to Garden Villas. At Garden Villas, she made friends, enjoyed bingo and never having to cook. In 2019, she moved to Morningside Place where the staff took wonderful care of her until the end.

Laurie and Anne will miss some of Joan’s entertaining expressions such as “toot-toot” (coming through), “my back teeth are floating” (need to pee) & “I could eat”, Joan loved butter pecan ice cream and white wine which we hope is available in heaven.

Joan was preceded in death by her parents, Harriett & Hugh Phelps, her husband Walter Chipman, her son Clayton Chipman, her sister Jean Johnstone and husband Paul.

Joan leaves her daughters Laurie Chipman (Jeff Perry) and Anne Chipman (Joe Knecht), nieces and nephews, her best buddy Ruthanne Kirby, and her friends and the staff at Morningside Place.

Contributions in her name may be made to the University of Kansas Alzheimer’s Disease Center, http://www.kualzheimer.org or Pet Resource Center of Kansas City, https://prckc.org