Joan Joanie Baloney, Bones Johnson Saddler

Joan L. Saddler, 58 former MLT at Riverside Hospital. Passed away May 14, 2011 surrounded by family, after a 5 year battle with IBC. Born April 30, 1953 in Wichita the daughter of Robert & Doris Johnson. Survived by husband: Vernon of 34 years, son: Nathaniel (Danielle) Saddler, daughter: Leslie (Steve) Phillips, brother: Matthew Johnson, sister: Jeffree Johnson-Coba, mother: Doris, and 10 grandchildren. Joan is preceded in death by father: Robert. Memorial services will be 3:00 PM Thursday May 19, 2011 at Hillside Funeral Home West.

Three words that describe Joan…..

Live,

Laugh,

and Love.

Joan Leslie Saddler (58) of Wichita, Kansas went to be with the Lord on May 14th 2011 while surrounded by family. Joan fought a ferocious battle against invasive breast cancer. However, cancer is not who Joan was… it was something that happened to her. So who was Joan? A wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, an aunt, a grandmother, and most importantly everyone’s friend. Her smile was infectious and her kind and kindred spirit was felt by many. Soft-spoken, gentle and nurturing, Joan’s kindness was as infectious as her smile and laughter. Yet even in certain defeat, Joan was courageous.

Joan was a Riverside kid. She attended Riverside Elementary, John Marshall Middle School and North High School.

In middle school Joan was a cheerleader and loved to wear her white go-go boots with her freshly ironed hair and her white lipstick, this made all the girls jealous, and the boys….well I’m not sure they learned anything, if Joan was in their classroom!

She was an active teen and loved sports. This was inherent to her DNA, growing up with a coach and manager as a father. She was very active in sports as a child and in her teenage years. She played softball in the Twin Rivers youth club for Snell’s Pharmacy for a team called “the little pills”. Joan and her sister Jeffree took ballet lessons at the June Landrith Dance Studio and was a fairy in the Nutcracker Suite in 1963. She also played biddy basketball for the Salvation Army on South Market Street.

In fact it was because of sports and her father Robert, that Joan met her husband Vernon. Joan first met her husband Vernon across Ellis Street from Domestic Laundry Athletic Equipment. Robert was taking care of business inside and Joan being adventurous at heart went in search of carbon paper. Instead, when she found what she thought was carbon paper; along came a tall, lanky, bossy boy of about age ten that said “Hey! Don’t mess with bats!” Because what Joan was about to pick up – what she had originally thought was carbon paper, was in fact a furry flying mammal on the ground. For years after Joan’s Dad would tease her about marrying that boy she met at the dumpster that day. Some call it fate, you may call it destiny…Joan and Vernon called it love. On March 26th 1977, she married Vernon Saddler. Joan has two children Leslie and Nathaniel.

She graduated from North High school in 1971. She then went on to attend Vo-tech and became a Certified Lab Technician. She served her internship at the Veterans Hospital in Wichita. After her internship ended she was employed by Riverside hospital. She worked at Riverside as a Laboratory Technician, which led to being a floater working all departments, and then became a head of special chemistry writing procedures and developing the quality control for electrophoresis for many years [CLA, CLS (ASCP), MLT (HEW)]. Joan had a several different jobs over the years. She once worked as a Limo Driver wearing a tux with hotpants and high-heels. Her blue bow tie and cummerbund matched her eyes and maglight flashlight. She worked for Hybertech Seed International where she cross-germinated samples of wheat and baked bread. In more recent time Joan was employed by LabCorp where she was an Account Specialist

She loved her children and her family; she always made every birthday, and Christmas special. It was not out of the usual to find little carefully wrapped packages placed on the porch in the morning from Joan, just because.

When Leslie and Nate were children she would sew their Halloween costumes and host sleepovers for their friends. She loved her grandchildren and thought the world of each and every one of them. She even flew overseas to Germany to be with Leslie when her first grandchild Todd was born. She attended every school program she could, and would often worry about their future.

Joan was once asked by her son Nate if she was scared of death, she replied she wasn’t scared of dying but worried about the future of all of the children in the family. That was Joan, always concerned about others.

Gilda Radner once said, “The goal is to live a full, productive life even with all that ambiguity. No matter what happens, whether the cancer never flares up again or whether you die, the important thing is that the days that you have had, you will have lived.”

Joan lived those words, and she lived her life to the fullest. On April 30th, just a few short weeks ago she turned 58, did she stay home? No, she went to see James Taylor play in concert with her husband Vernon. Joan loved to take trips to see nature. It was not unusual for her and Vernon to pack up the car and drive to Colorado or New Mexico, and enjoy each other’s company.

Joan may not have attended church services on Sundays, but that was not necessary. She saw God in all things - in nature. Whether it was the Cottonwood trees sprouting their summer snow or sight of the first robin in the spring, all nature brought joy and happiness to her heart.

She was a strong, willful, and determined woman. She was an ear to anyone in need. She listened carefully to others and always offered help or guidance, and would always check back with you to see if you needed anything.

The one lesson that Joan would want us all to learn from her life is to love others unconditionally and do right by all. Three words that I leave you with today that I believe Joan would want all of us to live by….

Live,

Laugh

and Love.