Joan Eilert

AKA “Joanie” to husband Paul and friends;

AKA “Mom” to her children Paul Michael “deceased“ , Laura, Patrick and Leslie;

AKA “G-MA” to her grandchildren; Cherie, Jordan, Jerry, Jared, Amber and Morgan;

AKA “GG” To her great grandchildren; Jazmin, Micah, Hallie, Jayden & Zoey;

Joanie is survived by two younger brothers, Raymond (Jack) Bragg of Omaha, Nebraska and Ted Nahhas of Volcano, California.

Joanie was born in Santa Barbara. Her mother Edna “Marsha” Basilla who was a very flamboyant lady with a rather quirky personality only lived there long enough for the birthing of Joanie, so she would have what she felt would be an upscale and romantic address on her Birth Certificate. Actually Edna was from San Diego at the time but did not feel that San Diego had adequate credentials for this momentous occasion.

Joan’s mother turned many of the household chores including cooking and supervision of her two younger brothers over to her at a very early age, so by the time Joan graduated from Oceanside High School in 1955, then m et and married Paul Eilert on the 25th of January 1956 she was a seasoned veteran of all things domestic.

That was fortunate for both the marriage and Paul because they had their four children in the first five years of marriage. The kids were delivered boy, girl, boy, girl, in that order. It didn’t get any better than that in Paul’s estimation because he was a only child and wanted a balanced table.. Two children each side and mom and dad at the ends. Those were the days when all family members sat down together at breakfast and dinner.

Joanie was a fabulous cook, her mother had taught her the intricacies of middle eastern cuisine, but she had that special touch that can’t be taught for making everything delicious, whether it be Chinese, Mexican, Mediterranean or just the best cheese burger you ever tasted.

Joanie and Paul lived in San Leandro from 1959-1969 and the children got their elementary education there.

Joanie was a woman of extraordinary vitality, she had 3 children in diapers at once (and were not talking pampers), she made some of their clothes, mostly shirts for the boys and dresses for the girls, she even made all the children backpacks (this is before anyone had/heard of backpacks) Joanie wove artistic wall decorations, crocheted afghans (see pictures) and read almost every book on the #1 best sellers list. All of this in addition to the innumerable other duties of running a family of six and being very much involved with fundraising and promoting for the March of Dimes Program.

In 1970 Paul started a new business in San Jose, CA and the family was moved to Morgan Hill. The children started their High School years at Live Oak High School and Joanie plunged into fundraising and promoting for “Children’s Home Society”. She became a troop leader for the Local Girl Scouts, and turned serious about her casual bridge game with her local bridge group and entered duplicate bridge tournaments around the Bay Area. Joanie was always a avid game player, she was consumed to her very last day with card games, poker, cribbage, crosswords, mind games, jeopardy, etc.. when not busy with these she was doing her needle work on literally hundreds of kitchen tea towels for her friends and family.

Life was fast moving all through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s. Joanie had secured season tickets to the Oakland Raiders football team when they lived in San Leandro. She also had season tickets to the Orpheum & Golden Gate Theaters in San Francisco where Joanie, Paul, Phil and M’lissa Lowe would spend the weekend fine dining and taking in all the popular theater productions. There was always an ongoing plan for a trip somewhere. There friends in Southern California took camping trips to Baja California and Mexico in the Spring and Fall, Joanie and Paul were always part of those excursions. Paul retired in 1982 and they hit the road, camping and moteling it in their custom designed SUV, outfitted with solar panels, refrigeration and of course a “built in kitchen”, most trips lasted from 2 to 4 months so after covering the USA, Alaska, Canada and Baja California by vehicle, Joanie arranged trips to China, Russia, Turkey, Europe, New Zealand, Australia and Hawaii etc.. Basically Joanie planned the trips and Paul pretty much carried the bags and paid the bills, but they both loved the open road. Joanie could be equally enthusiastic about spending the night in a sleeping bag on the beach in Baja or at the Ritz Carlton, in a double king bed with the covers turned down a mint on the pillow.

Joanie was pratical, reliable, efficient and capable, possibly inherited by her father Bill Kaufman who was of German Swiss decent. She was also flamboyant, exotic, glamorous and seductive obviously from her mother who was a beautiful lady of Lebanese decent. She was loved and admired by those who knew her best, both men and women.. Joanie was indeed a Woman for all Seasons