Joan Lea Jenkins

05/30/1937 – 02/12/2020

Joan Lea (Houchin) Jenkins was born on May 30, 1937 in Stuart, Nebraska to Kenneth and Margaret (Hungerford) Houchin. Joan was the eldest of five and grew up in Elkhorn, Nebraska with her two brothers and two sisters. In high school, Joan was actively involved in F.F.A, pep club, student council, yearbook staff, girls glee club, volleyball and was on the homecoming court. After graduating high school, she worked at Mutual of Omaha and shared an apartment with five other friends. She often recalled these times with fondness. After she married, her career was raising her three children.

Joan (also affectionally known as Joanie) met her husband, Neil M. Jenkins and after a crazy first double date, which involved a flat tire, her date almost being shot by a farmer when asking for help and then when finally making it to the restaurant, the table tipped on her date spilling all the water glasses on him; the rest was history and they married on August 8, 1959. As Neil was in the military, shortly after they married, they were stationed in Hawaii, where their sons, Dennis and Paul were born in 1960 and 1961. Joan was known for her love of Hawaii and embraced the culture. They were then stationed in California where their daughter, Susan (Suzi) was born in 1966. Joan was thrilled when they returned to Hawaii in 1970-1974 where she enjoyed going to the beach, supporting her boys in baseball, listening to Hawaiian music and learning to cook local dishes.

When Neil retired from the Navy in 1975 they moved back to Springfield, Nebraska to be near their extended families. After their daughter graduated high school, they bought a fifth wheel and started their journey of camping throughout the U.S. and joined several camp clubs and made life-long friends along the way. They often came down to Florida and decided to move to Lake Helen, Florida in 1998 where they also had extended family members.

They quickly became active in their community in Florida, enjoying several cruises, mini-trips and hosting family visitors. Joan enjoyed being part of the Red Hat Club, going to monthly Ladies Luncheons and weekly bingo nights.

Joan was known for her awesome cooking! From Chinese to Mexican and everything in between. She was best loved by her family for her cinnamon rolls and Christmas baking where she would make decorated Christmas breads and distribute to family and friends during the holidays.

Joan had a love of sports and followed all sports from high-school level to major league. She could hold a conversation on football (go Huskers!), baseball, golf, basketball, volleyball, ice-skating, Little League baseball and much more.

Joan also had a love of travel, which is why she enjoyed being a military spouse and in camping clubs. One of her favorite trips was to visit her daughter in Kuwait, after her husband passed, and they travelled to Cairo, Egypt together where she got to see and explore the pyramids and museums; a life-long dream since she was in high school.

Joan’s smile and laugh will be greatly missed. She was truly fond of all the friendships she made over her lifetime. She loved to meet new people and was one of those souls who could talk to anyone and always had an open door. She loved seeing her seven grandchildren grow up and hearing of their sports activities and achievements.

Joan passed away peacefully on February 12, 2020 at the age of 82 years with her children by her side and listening to her Hawaiian music at Advent Deland Hospital. She was preceded in death by her parents, brother Robert and husband Neil. Joan is survived by her sons; Dennis Jenkins and Annette Anderson of Omaha, NE; Paul and Karen (Petersen) Jenkins, of Anchorage, AK; daughter Susan (Jenkins) and Mansour Sakkez of St. George, Utah; grandchildren Ariel and Eric Jenkins, Kenny and Bryan Jenkins and Yasmine, Ali and Hassan Sakkez; brother Donald ‘Lowell’ Houchin; sisters Barb Vasek and Judy Kerkhoff, all from Nebraska; many nieces and nephews.

Joan will be cremated as per her wishes and her ashes will be placed in Hawaii. The family will have a small Celebration of Life in Lake Helen, Florida and are planning to have one later in the year with family in Nebraska.

Her children would like to give a special loving thank you to her nieces and spouses in Florida for all the care and support they gave to Joan when they could not always be there: Gretchen (Shull) and Carmine Belotti, Judi (Shull) and Eddie Broome; Janet (Jenkins) Nosker; Jamie Crider and their Aunt Elaine.

In lieu of flowers, donations to any of the following causes Joan supported would be appreciated: Paralyzed Veterans of America (secure.pva.org/pva); Marine Toys for Tots (www.toysfortots.org); Shriners Hospital for Children (www.shrinershospitalsforchildren.org); American Cancer Society (donate3.cancer.org); American Heart Association (heart.org).

Thank you for sharing in her life: Love, Dennis, Paul and Suzi