Marilyn Joanne Vasquez

Marilyn Joanne Weston Vasquez was born on April 29, 1935, in Ouagadougou, Upper Volta (now Burkina Faso) in West Africa. She was the fifth child of Mildred Luney Weston and Arnold Cooke Weston, a pastor and missionary in the Assemblies of God denomination. Although her given name was Marilyn, she was called Joanne from her birth.

During Joanne’s childhood, her family spent time living in Burkina Faso, in Southern California, and in Ghana. Joanne often told stories of her childhood years in Ghana, especially the four years she spent in the town of Walewale. Joanne’s playmates were her siblings and their pet monkeys, Chi-Chi and Skeeziks Wilhemina. Joanne and her siblings were homeschooled by their mother, who also taught reading lessons to local people in their native languages of Mampruli and Twi.

At the age of 14, Joanne was sent back to the US for high school. She spent her freshman year in Florida, and then moved to her parents’ home town of San Diego to complete her high school degree.

Joanne attended San Diego State University, and sang that school’s fight song with gusto. While there she became a leader in the school’s chapter of Intervarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF). It was through that organization that she met her future husband, James Alan Vasquez, on Catalina Island at a leadership retreat. James was attending as an IVCF leader from the University of Redlands.

Joanne graduated from San Diego State with a degree in English, and went on to teach high school English for three years. She and James married on March 22, 1959. Their goal was the mission field, and after James was ordained as a pastor, they signed up with Latin America Missions, and became missionaries in Costa Rica, one-year-old Jody in tow. Daughter Debbie was born in Costa Rica. They then sailed to Colombia, where David was born, and served there as missionaries for four years. While in Colombia, Joanne taught high school courses on English and religion. She also translated for a U.S. hospital ship, the USS Hope.

They returned to the US in 1967, and lived in turn in the suburbs of Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Seattle. In 1977, after a long period of spiritual searching, Joanne became a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. She served missions for the Church in Bulgaria, in the towns of Sophia and Smolyan, and in Virginia and North Carolina.

Joanne moved to Spokane, WA in the year 2000, to be near her family. She loved long walks, cooking healthy vegetarian meals, singing hymns, and family dinners with her children and grandchildren. Most of all she loved to read and meditate on Scripture. This was her true passion. She leaves behind three children, ten grandchildren, and eleven great-grandchildren.