JoAnn Ruth Carr

She was born in Pomona, California, on September 20, 1933, to parents Arthur and Ann Petrie, and was raised along with her sister Adele in Orange County, California, where she met her sweetheart Gerald Paul “Jerry” Carr, both of whom attended Santa Ana High School. She went on to earn a Bachelor of Arts degree in Education at Cal State Long Beach before she and Jerry were married on June 20, 1954.

Married to a United States Marine Corps fighter pilot, she gave birth to and raised six children, largely on her own, across six different states. When Jerry was selected by NASA to become an Apollo astronaut in 1966, she relocated the family from California to Houston, Texas, near the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center.

Raising a family in the shadow of the Apollo program, she managed to balance the needs of family with the demands of the space program, often forced to place them both before herself. During Jerry’s record breaking 84-day space flight to Skylab, in 1973 and 1974, she actively advocated for he and his crew with NASA leadership and the news media when she perceived bias, inattention and inaccuracies.

After the Skylab mission, JoAnn returned to college in 1975 at the University of Houston where she earned a Doctorate in Jurisprudence before passing the Texas Bar exam. She practiced law for 30 years, first in Texas as a sole practitioner in criminal and family law, and then as a general counsel for the FDIC Resolution Trust Corporation in Irvine, California.

JoAnn retired in Sedona, Arizona in 2006 before returning to Houston in 2011. Surrounded once again and inspired by family and the space program, she designed a distance-learning program for Star Station One, a 501c-3 dedicated to space education for primary grade children. In 2012, she authored her first book, “Keeper of the Flame.” In her later years, she played an active role in the lives of her adult children and beloved grandchildren, always teaching and often demanding that family comes first.

She was preceded in death by her parents, her former husband, sister Adele Hasenyager, brother-in-law Norman Hasenyager, and son-in-law Gregory Wilson.

She is survived by her children, Jennifer Anne Carr, Jamee Adele Wilson, Jeffrey Ernest Carr (and spouse Mengo Carr), John Christian Carr, Joshua Lee Carr (and spouse Ray Limon), and Jessica Louise Carr (and partner Joy Ridout). She dearly loved her grandchildren Michael Taylor Wilson, Betty Ann Carr, James Robert Carr (and spouse Luisa Santiago Carr), Cameron Lea Carr, and Avery Irene Waltmon (and spouse Justin Waltmon), and her great granddaughter Josie Rae Carr.

She will be missed and most remembered as a leader who fought for what she believed in and provided unconditional love and support to her family.

Memorial service open to the public will be held on Saturday, January 28th, 1pm at Webster Presbyterian Church located at 201 W NASA Parkway.

The Carr family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the Human Rights Campaign (https://www.Give.HRC.org) or Yorkies Rescue of Houston (https://www.yorkierescuehouston.org), or any cause that has special meaning to you, in memory of JoAnn. Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared below for the Carr family.