JoAnne Edmoundson

JoAnne Frank Edmoundson was born a coal miner's daughter on February 6, 1935, to William Olie and Ada Belle Hollaway Frank in Sweetwater, Tennessee. JoAnne’s parents blessed her with three more siblings, Mary Elizabeth, James Columbus, and William Henry and that completed their family. Her Father moved them all to Big Stone Gap, Tennessee where they lived in the Coal Camps until she was a junior in High School. Her father became ill, so her parents migrated to Bakersfield, California with the rest of the Frank family. JoAnne finished her senior year at Bakersfield High School and went on to work at the Nile Theater and eventually at the Telephone company. While working at the telephone company she was befriended by Violet June Edmoundson (Robinson). June had an older brother, Kenneth Dale Edmoundson, who was in the Seabees stationed in Guam and she decided to introduce them via snail mail. Their friendship grew and when he was discharged in January of 1956, they met face to face for the first time and it was love at first sight. Kenneth proposed to JoAnne but insisted his parents were not going to sign for him to get married, so they waited until they both turned 21 in February and eloped March 2nd, 1956. They were married by Pastor Brown in his study at Oildale Assembly of God. His sister June Robinson and her newlywed husband Clyde Robinson were the only witnesses, so they thought! Kenneth’s little sister Ada had snuck into the church wanting to be a part of the nuptials.

On December 9, 1956, the Lord blessed them with a little bundle of joy, and they named her Theresa Arlene. During this time Kenneth worked for the electric company and moved his family to Fresno. When the electric company laid him off, he went to work as a correctional officer at the Tehachapi State Prison where he moved his expanding family as they added a bouncing baby boy, Eric Randall who was born on May 15, 1958.

By December of 1958 JoAnne’s father had become very ill with black lung disease and had a brain tumor. He passed away leaving her mother Ada alone to raise two teenage boys. Like the daughter she was, JoAnne stepped up to help her out, taking care of not only her own two children but also her brothers in any way she could during those first few years.

By 1960 Kenneth had joined the Kern County Sheriff’s Department and was one of the first K-9 handlers. JoAnne soon realized this meant we would be transferred to all corners of Kern County. While we were in Buttonwillow, CA the family was blessed with another baby girl, Elizabeth Denise on October 18th, 1961. She completed their family. We moved around a lot those first few years before they decided to buy dirt which consisted of 3.5 acres in Greenfield, CA. JoAnne quickly learned how to milk cows and goats, feed the rabbits, pigs, and horses, raise chickens, maneuver around horses and a pony, a pet turkey, and a peacock, all while raising the children. By this time Kenneth was not only working for the Sheriff’s Department but was also a bouncer at the local bars to earn extra money so JoAnne could stay home with the children and take on the responsibility of raising the herd of animals we had acquired. Even when Kenneth volunteered to temporarily take care of and feed about 50 fighting cocks that had been confiscated from a raid on a fighting cock ring, she did not make a fuss. One time Kenneth lead our pony with Denise on his back, from the back door, through the house, and out the front door just for kicks and giggles! She did yell at him that time!

JoAnne believed that if the Greenfield Assembly of God Church doors were open then we should be present and accounted for. Pastor David Joyner seemed to agree with her whole heartedly. Just some NFL trivia Pastor Joyner was the grandfather of David and Derek Carr! Mom and Ada Tucker, our neighbor along with her two daughters would attend church with us all the time. One night, on our way back home in Mom’s pink push button rambler, there were some thugs that had locked arms across the road trying to make her stop. Well, that was the wrong thing to challenge Mom with! She yelled “Duck girls! We are going through!” Eric popped up and said, “But I am not a girl….” She told him to duck anyway and when they realized she was not going to stop they opened and let us fly right through.

Life seemed to be rolling along quite lovely until Kenneth took a dangerous fall while on duty chasing an escapee from the youth authority camp. It wasn’t until the next day that we found out he had a terrible back injury that resulted in 3 surgeries. Mom lived up to her vows for better, for worse, in sickness and health as this was going to be a roller coaster ride for both. Dad was forced into an early retirement at the age of 36. He always wanted to go back to either Oklahoma or Arkansas when he retired but this was an early and unexpected retirement. Mom being the prayer warrior that she was, put out a fleece to our Lord! She asked the Lord to supply our financial needs above and beyond, enough to purchase vehicles and property in a location not yet determined. Well, He meet that fleece so off to Waldron, Arkansas we headed! Kenneth traveled to Arkansas with a couple of his friends to take Theresa’s colt. While there he purchased a home situated on 520 Acres, located 21 miles from Waldron, Arkansas and 21 miles from Heavner, Oklahoma with no phone! Eric and I just knew we had moved off the grid for sure, but Mom kept reassuring us that the Lord had a plan! Which He did indeed!

Our parents enjoyed their little ponderosa and quickly learned how to raise a herd of cattle, and later they raised chickens for Tyson. We had at least an acre garden in which Mom canned whatever was grown and with the livestock we had plenty of meat. When we all left home, we knew where to head to in case of famine! Ranch life was completely different for us kids, but we would not exchange that experience for anything. Our parents taught us a work ethic that would carry us throughout our lives. Mom would entertain all our friends and family members whenever she could. There are friends of the grandchildren that still talk about the yummy food Mom would prepare for them when they would come up to go hunting or fishing. Our parents were members of the Jones Creek Volunteer Fire Department which they worked hard for and had fund raisers to purchase a used fire truck. Mom also volunteered to work at the polling stations for the elections. They were members of the cattleman association and stayed involved with their little community.

The first time we were able to convenience Mom to get on a plane was right after 9-11. We had her fly all the way to Hawaii to visit Uncle Dean and Aunt June with my dad. Theresa and her family met up with them and her first words where “Why was I so scared to fly all these years!” That was just the beginning of her travels with Theresa and the rest of her family.

In 2007, they decided to semi-retire as we called it and move closer to a larger town as Dad was having a few health issues. Huntington, AR was their next destination and Mom finally had the home of her dreams! . Mom would laugh and tell her loving husband that she was going to go live in the new barn or out with the chickens in their lush quarters! They were both happy with the smaller place, Dad still had his cows, horses, and his huge shop and Mom had her beautiful home! They celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary there. We went all out for the two of them and Mom felt like a queen with all her friends and family attending. Life was amazing until Dad was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s. The vows she took when they were first married rang true for them especially the portion that said in sickness and health! She never left his side. Even when he was placed in an assisted living facility, she would visit him every day.

The small ranch became too much for Mom to handle, so we all agreed they should move again. In 2016, Eric and Delilah built a home for our parents on their property with the front porch overlooking a huge pond. This was a God send since Dad was going downhill fast. On July 22, 2017, Mom lost the love of her life. They had been married for 61 years when Kenneth passed away. JoAnne had to learn to live alone, which she had never done before in her entire life, but the Lord was with her during the last few years of her life. Her children and grandchildren kept her very busy with their sport games and all those birthday parties they had, not to mention the holiday celebrations. For the first two years Mom traveled between Arkansas and California spending time with her oldest daughter and her family in California. They would plan adventures to the coast or to the mountains which usually wound up with Mom and Theresa taking a wrong turn along the way. Theresa would just laugh and say it was an unexpected adventure until they found the right route. Then back to Arkansas where the rest of the family had her tagging along with them all over the place.

During this time Mom started attending church with Eric and Delilah at First Baptist Church in Greenwood. She also started attending the Women’s Wednesday Morning bible study group. These women became very special to her, and she hated to miss any of the meetings so much so that after she had mostly given up driving, we found out she slipped out and drove herself to a meeting when Eric and Delilah were on vacation! She was a determined woman, and nothing was going to get in her way of her women’s bible study. At this time, we would like to thank these Godly women who surrounded our mother with love and companionship beyond the weekly meetings. Even after she could no longer maneuver through the text and calls, they kept her in their group text and in their prayers and visited her every chance they had.

During this time, her daughter in law Delilah, was Mom’s main care giver. She was our earthly angel sent to take care of our parents. We truly appreciate everything she has done to take care of both our parents. The grandchildren said their Ninny Jo was an energizer bunny and kept going and going! The last few months were not easy on Mom, and we are all thankful that Delilah was there to assist her.

Mom went to be with her Lord and was reunited with the love of her life Kenneth on October 12, 2023, at 8:20 pm, surrounded by her family. We know she is rejoicing in heaven surrounded by all her family and friends that preceded her to their heavenly home.

She is preceded by her husband, Kenneth Dale Edmoundson; her parents, William Olie and Ada Belle Frank; her in laws, Clayton Earl and Bertha Edmoundson; her sister, Mary Elizabeth Kofhal; her brother, William Henry Frank; her sister-in-law, Ada Ram; her grandson, Joshua Drew Mourton and her nephew, Billy Frank.

She is survived by her daughter, Theresa Edmoundson Olson; her son and his wife, Eric and Delilah Edmoundson; her daughter and her husband, Denise and Steve Mourton; grandchildren, Mandy and Jon Foster, Seth and Trisha Merrell, Kendra Merrell, Erica and Coby Coats, Cami and Josh Brown, Ashley Mourton, Kaycee and Lane Cowan; great grandchildren, Drew Mauro and Shannon Clark, Madisyn Merrell and Zayne Wilkerson, Zachary and Katlyn Merrell, Rileigh Merrell, Shayla Foster, Hayden Foster, Gavin Edmoundson, Emma Machado, Griffin Mourton, Coltyn Mourton, Preslee Coats, Shelby Coats, Brooks Brown, Asher Merrell, Greyson Brown, Sloane Cowan and Garrett Cowan; great great grandson, Montana Drew Mauro; her brother, James Columbus Frank; sister and brother in law, Violet June and Clyde Robinson and family; brother and sister in law, Dean and June Edmoundson and family; her nephews, Randy Kofhal, Sunil Ram and Rajan Ram and her nephew and niece, Richard and Elia Ram and family.

Funeral service will be 10 a.m., Tuesday, October 17 at Greenwood First Baptist Church with burial at the U.S. National Cemetery in Fort Smith under the direction of McConnell Funeral Home of Greenwood. Viewing will be Sunday from 1 - 7 p.m. at the funeral home, where the family will visit with friends from 4 - 6 p.m.

Pallbearers will be Seth Merrell, Josh Brown, Coby Coats, Lane Cowan, Jon Foster, Gavin Edmoundson, Hayden Foster, Griffin Mourton and Coltyn Mourton.

Memorial contributions may be made to The Gideons International, P.O. Box 685, Greenwood, AR 72936.