Joan Marian Wanamaker

Joan Wanamaker cut a wide swath through this world. She was born on July 24, 1931 in Dahlgren, Ill. She was the only child of Delbert and Alice (Brumley) Porter. Joan grew up in Stamford, Conn. after her parents moved from rural southern Illinois to make their fortune in the big city. Joan’s educational career began at Yale University where she went to preschool. Later, she graduated from Stamford High School in 1949. She then went on to nursing school and worked at Greenwich Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut. Joan married Warren Wanamaker on November 29, 1952. Their only child, Debra Ann, was born the following year. At that time, she ostensibly elected to become a full-time wife, mother and homemaker. In point of fact, she began her life-long work as a volunteer to a whole host of community and charitable organizations. The family moved many times, and Joan amassed a spectacular collection of antiques and treasures as they moved from Schenectady, N.Y. to Pittsfield, Mass. and then to Woodland Hills, Calif. in 1961. The family spent three years in southern California, only to be sent back to Massachusetts as they followed Warren’s corporate career path. They moved into their new home in Lenox, Mass., driving up in a new Ford Galaxy convertible with an eight-foot tall potted palm tree in the back seat. Unsurprisingly, they returned to California after only a few years in Massachusetts. Joan then started a very successful small gift shop, Happy Days. The business flourished until she and Warren moved to the Inland Northwest in 1982 to be with their granddaughters, Casey and Megan. With the move to Sandpoint, Joan became involved in the beginnings of the Festival at Sandpoint. One of her early duties was to use her pink leather-upholstered GramVan to transport world-renowned musicians from the Spokane Airport to Schweitzer. She also worked for the Community Assistance League (serving as president), the Pend Oreille Arts Council and The Panida restoration. Joan and Warren hosted numerous Rotary exchange students from Belgium, Thailand, India and Mexico. Many of these students maintained contact for years afterward and Joan considered them a part of her family. When Joan and Warren divorced in 1994, the community rallied around Joan and she threw herself into community projects with renewed vigor. Joan became one of the first female members of the Sandpoint Rotary Club. The club’s weekly meetings and service projects were some of the greatest highlights of her last twenty years. She also was active in the Ponderay Community Development Corporation, Bonner General Hospital Art Committee and became a Woman of Wisdom in 2003. She volunteered for the Panhandle Animal Shelter, an endeavor that reflected her life-long love affair with dogs. It’s impossible to talk about Joan without paying homage to Penny, Thumper, Dudley, Robbie, Squire, Jazzy and Moxie. All of these noble animals were frequent, (sometimes even willing) subjects for Joan’s camera. Joan’s camera was a big part of her life. More comfortable behind the lens than in front, her talent lay in finding visually interesting details in everyday objects. She exhibited her photographs extensively in the area. On her eightieth birthday she showed her images at Outskirts Gallery alongside artwork by her parents, daughter and granddaughters. Her hunt for visual treasure led her to travel extensively around the world. She took her granddaughters to Europe three times and Mexico once. She also visited Germany, Japan, Thailand and China. She traveled the world but always loved coming back to her little house on First Avenue in Sandpoint. In 2012 she moved to the Bridge and really enjoyed the companionship there. Her skills at Rummikub and bingo left her family with handfuls of dimes and lots of happy memories. She died peacefully of natural causes at Life Care Center in Sandpoint on December 11, 2014. She is survived by her daughter, Ann Porter (Jerry) of Sandpoint and Spearfish, S.D., and her granddaughters, Casey Page (Dan) of Billings, Mont. and Megan Riffe (James Cherry) of Sandpoint. She was preceded in death by parents, Delbert and Alice Porter. Funeral services will be held at the Coffelt’s Funeral Chapel, 109 N. Division Ave. in Sandpoint on Friday, December 19th at 11:00 a.m. Pastor Paul Graves, will be officiating. A reception will follow at Tango Café at 414 Church St. from 12:00 to 1:30 p.m. In lieu of flowers, memorials may be sent to the Sandpoint Rotary Club.