Joanne Barbara Bunch Whetstone

On Tuesday, September 6, 2022, Joanne Barbara Bunch Whetstone, widowed wife and loving mother of three, passed away peacefully at the age of 89. She was a long-time resident of Casa Linda in East Dallas and resided for the past five years at Presbyterian Village North on Skyline Drive in Dallas, TX.

Joanne was born June 9, 1933, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, to Charles Norman Bunch and Henrietta Amelia Wittbrock Bunch, and was raised in Oklahoma City. She attended Central State College. On December 7, 1952, Joanne married Thomas Monroe Whetstone and together they raised three girls: Diana Crawford, Donna Fuller and Pamela Calvert. Joanne was a devoted mother who instilled a love of reading in her daughters, each of whom carried on the tradition of reading in the evening with their own children and grandchildren. She was determined to help provide for her family, doing things such as cashing in Coke bottles to help make ends meet, and later showed that same strength when caring for Tom through health challenges and her own battle with breast cancer.

After Tom passed away on October 27, 1993, Joanne and Ernest (Ernie) David Worm fell in love after Ernie chose the only empty chair in her Sunday School class. They married on April 30, 1999, and loved to travel, host their friends from Sunday School at their home and see musicals at Dallas Music Hall until his passing on May 23, 2010.

Joanne was a member of Beta Sigma Phi social club and worked for twenty-five years at Republic Financial Services, Inc. starting her employment as a file clerk in the basement in October 1965, and working her way to the top floor, retiring December 1990 as Corporate Secretary to the President and to the Chairman of the Board.

Joanne lived in Casa Linda for over 40 years and filled her home with art, including many works by the “Painter of Light”, Thomas Kinkade. Her family joyfully gathered there for holidays where grandchildren hunted Easter eggs in the backyard and everyone enjoyed her cherry pies at Thanksgiving and Christmas. She adored her cats and helped numerous feral cats over the years. She loved to travel, enjoying many Christmas seasons in New York City seeing the Radio City Rockettes and multiple trips to Hawaii. Well-known by the salespeople at Neiman's and never without her lipstick, she loved to shop at NorthPark and was known for her fashion and classic style. She was a devout Christian and faithfully attended her church, White Rock United Methodist Church and loved her Harmony Sunday School class and her United Methodist Women group. More than anything, she loved her family.

Everyone who met Joanne described her as the sweetest woman, beautiful inside and out. To be loved by her was to be loved unconditionally.

Joanne was preceded in death by husbands Thomas Monroe Whetstone and Ernest David Worm. She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law Diana Crawford & Kenneth Fuquay, daughter and son-in-law Donna Fuller & Ozzie Molina, daughter and son-in-law Pamela & Larry Calvert; eight grandchildren and spouses: Allan Crawford and Callie Salls, Todd and Brett Crawford, Corey Fuller Thompson and partner Shelly Meeks, Johnn Hesseltine and partner Emily Blum, Alissa Carson, Cody and Kelsey Hesseltine, Carrie and Brian Waltenbaugh, Steven and Shawn Molina, and Brittany and Taylor Schott. Joanne was blessed by 17 great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews. Joanne is also survived by her long-time dear friend, Mary Stout.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 2 pm on Friday, September 9, 2022, in the Spiritual Care Center at Faith Presbyterian Hospice, 12477 Merit Drive, Dallas, TX. Her ashes will be inurned at Sparkman/Hillcrest Memorial Park at a later date.

The family wishes to thank the kind staff of Transitional Medical Group who cared for her with such respect and dignity during her last days.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in her memory to White Rock United Methodist Church (wrumc.org) or Friends of Tri-City Animal Shelter (tricityfriends.org).

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.Sparkman-Hillcrest.com for the Whetstone family.