Joanne was born in Oil City, Pennsylvania to James Whitling and Alice Whitling nee Hamm, the youngest of 14 children. She was raised on a farm and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse in Fertigs, Pennsylvania. Because she was the youngest, she spent her precocious childhood playing with her contemporary nieces and nephews climbing trees and eating green apples. After high school, she worked as a secretary at Pennzoil Oil Company. Although health problems made her first choice of career as a missionary not possible, she was active in the church for many years with youth ministries, Sunday school, Vacation Bible School and as an organist. The first of her family to attend and graduate college (achieving a bachelor’s degree in education from Nyack Missionary College), she had to work full-time to pay for tuition and board, commuting back and forth between upstate New York and New York City, where she worked as a secretary at an advertising company, then as an assistant to playwright Ben Hecht and to author Carson McCullers. After graduation, she worked as a social worker for the Allegheny County Board of Assistance and Erie County Children’s Services before starting a family with her husband at the time, Gary Boocks. Later she worked in life insurance in Pennsylvania, then Florida after relocating with her children in pursuit of balmy weather. Ultimately, she worked for Orange County Public Schools in administration until her retirement. She had faith in God and her Savior Jesus Christ that never wavered, even during difficult days. She had strength, tenacity, and resourcefulness like few others, which carried her through the successful upbringing of two children as a working single mother. She set an example to always do the right thing, help the unfortunate and be kind to all you meet. She loved hymnal and gospel music, spending time with family and friends playing cards, studying the scripture and attending church. She will be remembered forever in the hearts of her family and friends as funny and loving, and as a supportive mother, daughter, sister, aunt and friend.
Joanne is preceded in death by her parents James and Alice Whitling; siblings Willis Whitling, Harold Whitling, Walter Whitling, Helen O’Neil, Merrill Whitling, Hazel Whitmer, Donald Whitling, Esther Neel, Norman Whitling, Ruth Tarr, Jane Baker, Florence Marshall, Harry “Tuffy” George, and numerous nieces and nephews.
She is survived by her daughters Wendy Brown and husband Arthur, Sara Pridemore and husband James, along with numerous nieces, nephews and other relatives.
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