Joan Mae Champeny
1931 – 2024
Joan passed away peacefully in early January at her home in Santa Barbara with her daughters at her side.
Joan was born and raised in Milwaukee, WI. After graduating from Rufus King High School and a year at Milwaukee State Teachers College, she went to work as a keypunch operator at the home office of Northwestern Mutual, where she met her future husband George. In the early 1960s the couple and their two daughters left the long cold Midwest winters for warm and sunny California. Joan continued to work in data entry, computer operation, and information management for many years at GE Tempo and later Kaman Sciences. After retirement, she enjoyed a second career in volunteer services, spending more than two decades with both Goleta Valley Community Hospital and the Music Van Program and League of the Santa Barbara Symphony.
Joan was famous for her confectionery creations, from teddy bear cakes to bite-sized gingerbread men, and she kept her freezer stocked with several flavors of ice cream to share with drop-in visitors. She loved being entertained and traveled widely, delighting in campfire chats in national parks, musicals on Broadway, sumo in Osaka, village fiestas in Tlaxcala, headliners in Las Vegas, concert choirs in Vienna and opera in Berlin. A highlight of her overseas travel was visiting the home of her ancestors in Lahrbach, Germany.
Joan was preceded in death by her parents Margie and A.J., brother Dick and sister Lois, husband George, niece Kathy, and in-laws Lorraine, Don, Sumi, Jim, and Millie. She is survived by her daughters Leslie (Brian) and Diane (Leland), sister-in-law Katie, nieces Joni, Ellen, Linda and nephew Rick, and a large extended family throughout the U.S. and in Germany.
Joan’s ashes were laid to rest privately in the family plot at Goleta Cemetery. If you would like to honor her memory, please consider a donation in her name to one of these organizations:
Music Van Program of the Santa Barbara Symphony
Goleta Valley Cottage Hospital Foundation
VNA Health Hospice program
A celebration of her life with family and friends is being planned for June.
RIP, QOE