Joan Marie DeMeo

On Saturday November 28th we finally were able to see our Mom, Grandma (Gma) and Great Grandma (GGma) resting peacefully from her very long, incredibly strong-willed fight against lung cancer. Mom’s will to live was evident from the very beginning of her diagnoses 5 years ago. It was not until these past 3 months her family witnessed and experienced a depth of strength and courage that did not seem humanly possible.
Joan was born to Margaret and John Vaughan in Queens NY and she has one sister, Virginia (Ginny Masucci). Her family moved to Hasbrouck Heights where she attended St Cecilia’s High School and later graduated from Vincentian High School in Albany NY. After attending College of St. Rose in Albany for a brief time, she made the decision to leave the East Coast to join her future husband Mike in Southern California. 6 months later they were married on June 25th which was the beginning of their 60+ years of marriage. Together they have 3 children - Joanne (Mike Sooter), Lorraine (Mike Taylor) and Michael (Vianca). Their family soon grew to 6 grandchildren – Donna (Lucas Wheeler), Dianne (Andy Schuler), Debbie (Gus Hiatt), Tony, Madison and Stephanie – and 7 great grandchildren – Rachel, Alice, Mickey, Roger, Rex, Vince and Claire. Had it not been for Mom’s strong desire to live and willingness to try several types of treatments, she would have never met her last 3 great grandchildren.
While raising their young family, Joan and Mike lived in both the San Fernando and Santa Clarita Valleys. They soon became close friends with a number of neighbors in Sylmar and spent many years gathering for weekend card games, outings to numerous beaches and lakes, group family camping at Rock Creek, floating down the King’s River and many summer vacations at Meek’s Bay in Lake Tahoe.
Soon after retiring, they moved to Meridian in 1997 where they followed the Sooters who had moved to Idaho the year before. During the next 10 years, Gma attended her granddaughters various middle and high school activities. Afterwards she made the occasional travel trip to their colleges and eventually their graduations. There were also many extended Winter trips to Southern California to visit their son Michael’s family to enjoy some much overdue grandparent time with Tony and Madison. During the other 3 seasons, a lot of time was spent in Idaho exploring and traveling with family and friends creating so many fond memories. The families love of travel and sporting events was a perfect combination to follow the BSU football team to many of their destinations - Arizona, Wyoming, Colorado, Connecticut, Michigan, Georgia, Oklahoma, and Utah. Joan and Mike also enjoyed cruises to Alaska and New England, a train trip thru Canada and a multi country European trip.
Over the last 5 years, Joan would set a goal to work towards which we all believed extended her life and provided all of us more special memories because of the extra time we spent together. Her last goal was to celebrate her 60th wedding anniversary with her husband Mike. The family planned a trip to Donnelly where they were all able to spend a week together honoring their marriage, family, and history together. This last trip was so meaningful for the family but especially for Mom by reaching her last and very memorable achievement, celebrating this seldom reached milestone – 60 years of marriage.
Joan received the most outstanding care from her primary physician Dr. Robert Perko and her oncologist Dr. Carl Schultheiss. All the staff at St’ Alphonsus’ cancer center, especially Angela were incredibly kind, caring, thoughtful and compassionate. Not many patients like going to the doctor let alone cancer treatments but everyone at the cancer center made these trips enjoyable for Mom. She referred to the St. Al’s team as her 2nd home or Hotel Al’s. There is no where else in the world where she would have received the care and love that she did from these truly exceptional health care givers. Eventually, Horizon Home Health started caring for her through home health visits which then transitioned into hospice care. Again, these angels from Horizon were so wonderful in their gift of comfort and care. Each and everyone of the staff from both groups were so instrumental in helping comfort and care for Mom while also providing guidance and support to the family during her home care. A special thank you to Benchmark Dentistry for their care since Joan arrived in Idaho and to Paul Orlando for his guidance in best preparing the family due to Joan’s health. We are so grateful for having spent these past couple of weeks together by Mom’s side so we could care for her, reminisce on so many of her life stories, honor her last wishes and say our good byes in the comfort of her home which we are forever thankful for.
Celebration of Life will be held at Cloverdale Funeral Home on Friday December 4th at 11am followed by a graveside service for immediate family