Joann Rutherford McCracken

Josephine Anita Rutherford McCracken, JoAnn, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Friday, January 19 in the wee hours of the morning at her home in Midlothian, Virginia at the age of 86. Although not in the greatest of health, the loss caught the family by surprise.

JoAnn was born July 10, 1937, in Nashville, Tennessee, the second of two children of James and Gwendolyn Rutherford. While attending East High School, she had a chance encounter with a young man who lived in a boarding house across from her family home. The young man introduced himself to her as Tom McCracken and she laughed saying it was the funniest name she had ever heard. He told her not to laugh, she might get stuck with it one day. They dated for a few years then Tom decided to enter college at Tennessee Tech. When it came time for JoAnn to think about college her father told her she could go anywhere she wanted to, except where “that boy” was going. JoAnn attended Belmont University for two years, but kept dating “that boy”, and after her second year of college even her father agreed they should marry. They were a pair for the next 63 happy years.

JoAnn often said that she grew up in the Baptist Church. She would go three days a week for one activity or another. After moving to Virginia in the 1970s, Tom and JoAnn found a church home. JoAnn was active in the life of Bon Air United Methodist Church from that time, committee work, participation in Sunday service, General Conference attendance, talent shows, spaghetti dinners, Sunday School, and just generally being involved. She took pride in the church and made many longtime friends there.

JoAnn started singing in her church choir when she was sixteen years old and for the rest of her life, she took enormous pleasure in singing with various choirs in all of the places where Tom and JoAnn moved. JoAnn sang with the choir at Bon Air United Methodist Church for almost 50 years. She also sang with the choir at Brandermill Woods, was a member of the Jubilation Choir and then joined the Ovation Choir and sang in her last concert just this past Christmas.

JoAnn received a bachelor’s degree in education from Tennessee Tech and a master’s degree in humanities from University of Richmond and had a long career teaching, ultimately spending time teaching all grade levels from kindergarten through twelfth grade. Although it started because her mother told her that teaching was an acceptable profession for a woman, it turned out she truly had a calling for it. She was beloved by her students and would annoy her young daughters by buying bags of candy and not letting them have any with the explanation “that’s for my kids.” JoAnn ran into people she knew most places she went and often the explanation was “I taught him/her” or “I taught his/her son/daughter”. Whenever she encountered a former student, it was always with happy memories on both sides.

Because of Tom’s job, he and JoAnn moved frequently in the first years of their marriage. JoAnn liked to say that they lived in “seven states and two foreign countries.” JoAnn easily made friends her whole life and collected people from everywhere they went, making for an impressive Christmas card list. Having moved almost every two years, when she landed in Virginia, JoAnn would say she wanted to live somewhere long enough to know people when she went places. That is exactly what happened. JoAnn couldn’t make it out of the grocery store or through Arts in the Park or home from the theatre without seeing someone and having a quick catch up.

JoAnn was crafty all of her life. She learned to sew and made closets of clothes for her girls when they were young, and then taught both her daughters that skill. She made forays into many other crafts including furniture refinishing and upholstery, decoupage (forgive her, it was the 70’s), macrame, tatting (yes, she learned to make lace), and crochet. But her biggest love was knitting. JoAnn always had a knitting project in progress. She knit so much that she started a knitting group in her neighborhood and her family claims she could even knit in the dark.

JoAnn is survived by her daughters Lori Kenick (Philadelphia) and Sandi Bergman (Midlothian), sons-in-law Gary Kenick and Scott Bergman, her granddaughters Zoe Kenick and Rachel Kenick, and her beloved cat Tommie.

There will be a memorial service at Bon Air United Methodist Church on Friday, January 26 at 2:00pm. In lieu of flowers, the family have requested donations to either Bon Air United Methodist Church or St. Jude’s. The burial will be a private service at Greenwood Memorial Gardens.