Joan Carolyn Ward

Joan, or Joanie, was born October 29, 1933 in Saint Louis, Missouri to John and Margaret Arnzen, moving to Dubuque, Iowa with her family when she was very young. She was always a social butterfly, modeling wedding dresses in town and getting chided by the nuns at Academy of the Visitation for wearing too many layers of lipstick. She married Wayne Ward on June 25,1955, and had six children, moving to Rockford, Illinois and then to the suburbs of Denver, Colorado. The move to Denver came in a snowstorm, Joan driving the kids over 800 miles from everything she knew, into the unknown, to a subdivision off of what was then a dirt road. When her children were out of elementary school, Joan went to work as a quality control specialist at a medical supply company.

After retirement, Joan volunteered at Littleton Adventist Hospital and made many friends. They had regular movie dates, Skip-Bo games, and visits to favorite local spots like the Original Pancake House and Bud's Bar. She loved watching Broncos football games at home, as well as attending University of Denver hockey games with her friends Norm and Betty Arbon. She also discovered a love for travel, touring Europe, Hawaii, Ireland, and New York.

Joan enjoyed time with her friends and her family, and was renowned for her commitment to maintaining friendships despite time and distance. She was the belle of the ball at her surprise 85th birthday party in 2018, attended by friends and family from all over the state and the country. When Joan put down the car keys for good in her mid-eighties due to macular degeneration, she kept up her Skip-Bo circuit and lunch dates, and listened to many, many books on tape courtesy of the Colorado Talking Book Library.

Joan will be remembered for her caring heart, her dedication to the people she loved, her keen sense of humor, and her love for animals. Whether it was a cricket in the basement or a mouse in her closet, Joan couldn't stand for bad things to come to "God's Creatures", and shared her love with many pets over the years.

Joan is survived by her children, Kevin, Tim, Chris, TJ, and Brian Ward and Sherry (Jim) Job, her grandchildren, Holly and Heather Job, Taarna Keebler, and Zach Kuykendall, and her great-grandchildren, Uriah Keebler, Leia Odle, and Aiden Kuykendall, as well as many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her father, John Arnzen Sr., and her mother, Margaret Arnzen, her brother, John Arnzen Jr., and her husband Wayne Ward.

Joan's family is thankful for the assistance of Synergy Home Care over the last year, and for the guidance of Littleton Adventist Hospital and Compassus as she went into hospice treatment. We are also thankful for the years of friendship Joan enjoyed with her whole community over the years, especially best friends Betty Arbon and Jinny Black.

A celebration of life for Joan will be held Friday, October 27, 2023 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at Olinger Chapel Hill Mortuary & Cemetery, 6601 South Colorado Blvd, Centennial, CO 80121.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.olingerchapelhill.com for the Ward family.

In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Friends of the Colorado Talking Book Library