Joan Lee (Thompson) McCall, daughter of Alfred & Gertrude (Brumbaugh) Thompson was born October 29, 1929 in Lincoln, Kansas and passed away July 26, 2023 at the Phillips County Retirement Center, Phillipsburg, at the age of 93.
As a small child the family moved to Paradise KS, where she attended grade school and high school. Joan was an excellent basketball player on the Paradise High School Girls team. Her junior year she became infected with rabbit fever and going against doctor’s orders she crawled out her bedroom window and went to play in a game and to her surprise her mother was in attendance. Her love of basketball continued to her death, she enjoyed attending and watching K-State men’s and women’s basketball games. When Nick was young he was on the losing end of several games of horse to his granny.
After graduation from Paradise High School in 1948 she attended cosmetology school in Wichita Kansas. Upon graduation in March of 1949 she opened a beauty shop in Natoma, KS.
Joan and Don were married on October 25, 1953 in Paradise Kansas. The couple celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary a few weeks prior to Don’s death in 2013.
They made their first home in Woodston, Kansas until August of 1968, when they moved to Phillipsburg, Kansas. Their family was blessed with the birth of three children: Cynthia Sue, Kent J and Linnette Vale.
Joan continued working as a beautician with her own shop in her home until moving to Phillipsburg. After moving to Phillipsburg she was the activities director at Westview Homes until retirement.
Joan and Don traveled throughout the US while health allowed. Several trips were made with her brother Gerald and his wife Norma along with cousins from VA and PA. Joan and Don had season football tickets to K-State. They tailgated and attended many a bowl game with longtime friends Nick and Donna Kraushaar.
Joan was a loving wife, mother, granny and great-granny. She had a great love for her extended family. She became the matriarch of the Thompson family upon the death of her mother. She was very close to her nieces, nephews and sisters-in-law. She was a very competitive card player, enjoyed playing at family get togethers and with a club until this past winter.
Her loving husband Don, parents Alfred and Gertrude; brothers Lex, Arthur, Gerald, Roger and Ronnie and two sisters Joy and Evelyn preceded her in death.
She is survived by son, Kent also of Phillipsburg; daughters, Cynthia of Overland Park, KS, Linnette of Kansas City MO; grandson Major Nicholas Cline (spouse Kelly); great-grand daughter Everly Joan all of Oceanside CA; sisters, Vivian Martinez and Sue (Rodney) Heitschmidt; sister's-in-law, Florence Thompson, Joyce Thompson, and Edna McCall; along with several nieces and nephews.
Funeral services will be conducted at 10:30 a.m. Saturday, July 29, 2023 in the United Presbyterian Church, Phillipsburg. The services will be streamed live on the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel Facebook page. The burial will take place at 2:00 p.m. Saturday in the Mt. Hermon Cemetery, Paradise, KS.
Mrs. McCall will lie in state from noon until 9 p.m. Thursday and 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday at the Olliff-Boeve Memorial Chapel, Phillipsburg.
Memorial contributions may be made in lieu of flowers to the United Presbyterian Church.
