JoAnn South

After a most memorable life, mom passed peacefully at 93 years young on December 26, 2025. Born to Marion and Pearl Simmons of Dodge City Kansas on May 16, 1932, it was there she met and married John South on January 12, 1948. Their adventure began with a honeymoon on John’s Harley and lasted 57 years.

If you had the good fortune to know her, you understand why she was so remarkable. In many ways she was a pioneer, doing things long before it became common for women to do them. Arriving in Medical Lake in 1960, she quickly became involved in community and school activities. She was a playground supervisor at Blair Elementary, helped establish the Medical Lake Youth Baseball Association, and when John deployed to Vietnam in 1966, she coached the 12 & 13-year-old boy’s baseball team to second place in the county league. She was active in Cub Scouts, the PTA and high school PTS, the Medical Lake Booster Club, the Medical Lake Float Association and in later years, Dollars for Scholars. In the early years, John was often deployed, yet she also kept their small farm running while raising three boys. Through her years she was so active and supportive of the Medical Lake community that in 1972 she was honored as Medical Lake’s Outstanding Citizen, and in 2018 as the Grand Marshall of the Medical Lake Founder’s Day Parade.

She also had a notable professional life. When her son Randy took up residency at Lakeland Village, she became active in the Lakeland Village Associates, and an influential advocate for the disabled. After becoming employed at Interlake School as a Teacher’s Aide, she joined the Friends of Interlake and became the President of the Interlake School Staff Association, and negotiated employment contracts with the Medical Lake School District, retiring in 1994.

It is her enduring relationships with others for which she may be most remembered, however. She had this crazy ability to build relationships. She was often as good a friend to the children and grandchildren of those she knew as she was to their parents and grandparents. She had a marvelous ability to see the good in people and never met a stranger.

She is survived by her partner Keith Lessard, sons Rick (Betty) and Michael, three grandchildren, Randall (Amy), Kelsey (Uriah) and Kadi, six great grandchildren, Brayden, Evelyn, Nolan, Ailika, Amaya, and Cooper, her sister Marilyn Lowe, numerous nieces and nephews, and an untold number of young and old who regarded her as family. She was preceded in death by her parents, husband John, son Randy, her adopted daughter Beverly Martins, sister Beulah Mae, and brothers Gene, Marion Jr., and Archie.

A celebration of life will be held at 10:00 a.m. on May 30, 2026 at the Ball and Dodd Funeral Home, 5100 W. Wellesley Ave., Spokane. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Medical Lake Dollars for Scholars or the Jensen Youth Ranch.