Joann Virginia Farris was born February 17, 1925 in Three Sands Oklahoma third daughter of Thomas J. and Ester Mae Bowling. In 1933 the family moved to Wellington in the Texas Panhandle where Mr. Bowling worked as a laborer until 1936 when he was appointed as Station Agent for the Katy Railroad in the town of Dodson in the area.
Joann attended Dodson school until graduation in 1941. During her high school years she met James W. Farris. They were married in the nearby town of Hollis, Oklahoma January 23, 1943. James was in the Army Corps stationed near Dalhart where they began their life together.
When her husband was sent overseas to the Southwest Pacific in 1944, Joann returned to Dodson where she and her older sister Janet shared a house since Janet's husband was also in the Pacific War Zone.
In October 1944 Joann delivered her first child, a girl who was named Karen Jean. James learned that he had become a father when the last mail was delivered to a ship that was about to join a task force that would land on the island of Leyte in the Philippines.
James completed his duties in the Pacific war zone and returned to his loving wife and their child. Two other children, David and Virginia Ann were born to them in 1947 and 1948.
This family of five became an Air Force family, serving at bases in Texas, California and overseas bases in the Philippines. At the various bases on which we served, Joann served the needs of Air Force families in many ways as a volunteer with the Red Cross and in Family Services.
Now that Joann has departed this earth, she will be missed by the young who loved her for the special attention she gave them, and not so young for the wisdom she imparted, and for their ease with which she exhibited her love of God. She left this earth for a better place September 7, 2011.
Memorial service will be at 11 a.m. Saturday, September 10 at the Woods Street Church of Christ, 2100 N. Woods St. Sherman, TX..
Published in The Herald Democrat on September 8, 2011