Joan Vander Mei
Joan (pronounced Joanne) Vander Mei was born May 12, 1926 in Des Moines, Iowa, the only child of William and Nora Thompson. In 1932, at 16, she moved with her mother to La Sierra, California, now a part of the city of Riverside. There she attended Loma Linda Academy, a secondary school founded and operated by the Seventh-day Adventist church., where she met Corliss “Wes” Vander Mei, a classmate who sought her attention through frequent teasing. It worked and they fell in love. They were married in 1945.
Their first and only child, named William in honor of her father, was born in 1947. She dropped out of college to care for him and to work at the food factory while Corliss finished college courtesy of the GI Bill. After graduating, he found a job teaching school in Phoenix, where the family moved in 1951. A change of jobs brought them to Tucson a year later, where they remained for four years. She occasionally filled in for him as a substitute teacher and managed to keep order better than many substitutes. Once, when she caught one of the students in her charge shooting spitballs in class, she made him stay after school and fill a Mason jar with spitballs before he could go home.
In 1956 they moved to Caldwell, Idaho, where she took a job in the cafeteria of a private college. Her mother came to live with them in the late 1950s, after retirement, and remained a part of the household until death several years later.
They remained in Caldwell three years before returning to Arizona, this time to Thunderbird Academy, an Adventist boarding academy at a army-surplus air base on the outskirts of Scottsdale. She earned her degree in volume feeding management and took on the role of Cafeteria Supervisor. She had to provide three meals a day for all the students who lived on campus using a staff made up almost entirely of high-school students working part time to defray the cost of their education.
When their son left for college in northern California in 1969, she and Corliss took the opportunity to move there as well, settling in Campbell, near San Jose. There she took a job as a dental assistant. After their son graduated from college and got married 1969, she and Corliss accepted the challenge of mission service on the staff of an Adventist college in the remote highlands of Ethiopia. They had to improvise. She became a medical assistant, working in the Adventist medical clinic at the college and even administering anesthesia when required—ether, for those who remember it. Conditions there were primitive and transportation to the nearest city was infrequent. The only feasible ride to the city was on an old DC-3 they dubbed the “Vomit Comet” for the turbulence they had to survive going through the mountains. On most flights, many passengers were accompanied by chickens and other livestock.
Their mission service ended prematurely when revolution overthrew the government of Ethiopia and most foreigners were expelled. They returned to California, where they settled in Bakersfield. She worked there as a substitute teacher in the Adventist elementary school.
In 1975 they returned to the Bay Area with jobs at Pacific Press, an Adventist publisher located in Mountain View. While they lived in that area, their first grandson, Justin, was born. They drove so fast to see him that they were pulled over by the Highway Patrol.
They then moved to Placer County, California, to take up residence on the campus of The Weimar Institute, a newly established institute of higher education featuring college coursework along with helping victims of heart disease and other “lifestyle illnesses” change their lives through better nutrition and exercise. She became the Dean of Women there, in charge of the women’s dormitory.
While they were at Weimar, their second grandson, Brendan, was born. Both boys stayed with them on the campus of the Institute from time to time. She spoke often later in life of how she enjoyed their arrival and the way they would spill all the toys she had collected in baskets for them across the floor before settling down to play.
The opportunity for mission service arose again in 1983, when they moved to the Adventist college in Solusi, in what was then called Southern Rhodesia. She worked in the college library as an assistant librarian. Early in their tenure, revolution toppled the white-led government and established black rule and the new name of Zimbabwe. While the situation was tense and sometimes violent for white residents of the country, the campus was left in safety. Once the situation settled down, she enjoyed frequent trips to the game preserves and sugary beaches of nearby South Africa.
The cost and length of travel to the US made it impossible to see their grandchildren more than once every year and a half, but she certainly enjoyed flying into Sacramento to see the two grandsons she already knew and a third, Jonathan, who had been born while they were in Africa. She always brought them presents and enjoyed watching them eagerly rip them open on the airport floor as other arriving passengers flowed around them.
They took advantage of their infrequent trips home to expand their horizons by stopping over in several European countries on the way to or from their postings in Ethiopia and Zimbabwe. At a party later in life, in a game to find out who had been to the most foreign countries, she was the winner by a large margin.
They completed their six-year term of service at Solusi in 1989 and returned to library jobs at Columbia Union College, near Washington DC. She especially enjoyed the rich culture of the capital, attending concerts and museums and becoming actively involved in their local church. One highlight of their time there was a two-week visit by their grandchildren. To her final days, Joan loved to recount her stories of the adventures they had with the kids during that time—and they say they recall it as one of their all-time favorite vacations.
In 1993, upon retirement, she and Corliss moved to Sacramento to be near their son and grandchildren. Once again they became involved in their local church—the Central SDA church—and made many friends. She especially enjoyed the 1926 Club, a good sized group of members who shared the same year of birth. Finally settling down for good, they remained in Sacramento for the remainder of her life.
She died peacefully, in her sleep, just before dawn on June 18. She is survived by her husband, her son William Van der Mei and daughter-in-law Jan Van der Mei, her grandsons Justin, Brendan and Jonathan and three great-grandchildren. It was a very good life.
Joan was a woman of many places and many careers, and always found a way to enjoy where she lived and what she was doing. Highly sociable, she took a leading role in nearly every one of the many church congregations to which they belonged. Cordial and vivacious, she made friends wherever she went and kept them for life. She was a loving and attentive mother, generous with praise and encouragement and excellent food. She was an affectionate and devoted wife who always spoke well of her husband and supported him in his endeavors. They celebrated their 70th anniversary a little less than two years ago.
She died in the hope of the resurrection and in harmony with all people. As the end approached, she achieved a rare serenity, remaining even in this a model for those who follow her. Now she can rest in peace.
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