Joan Carol Shannon

Joan Carol Shannon passed away peacefully on Saturday, March 26, 2022 holding hands with her loved ones. Joan struggled with dementia for over 20 years.

Joan was born and raised on her family’s farm in Van Buren Township, now called Kettering, Ohio. She helped on the farm by reluctantly driving the tractor and often accidently threw the farm hands off the back. Joan loved music and started playing clarinet and piano in the 3rd grade. When she was fourteen she joined the NCR Band. In high school she continued to play the piano while also playing the clarinet in Marching Band and bassoon in Concert Band.

After high school, Joan worked at Dayton Power & Light. She met Herbert Harris Shannon Junior there and they married in 1951 (divorced in 1985). They had four children.

Joan deeply loved her family and friends. She served in leadership roles in many of her children’s activities including Room Mother, PTA Hospitality Chairperson, 4-H Advisor, Boy Scout Leader for her sons, and Girl Scout Leader for her daughters. Joan also helped the Fairmont Wee Dragons Football Program in the concession stand, as a cheerleader advisor and on the Labor Day Parade Committee.

When Joan’s children were all in school, she started teaching at The Little Red Schoolhouse in Kettering, Ohio. She then took her teaching skills to The Early Childhood Learning Center (ECLC) in Centerville, Ohio. She loved teaching young children and used her musical talents to pass along the love of music.

In 1985, after both of her daughters had graduated college, Joan moved to Cincinnati, Ohio and became the House Director at the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority House, of which both her daughters are members. For twelve years, she loved helping the sorority girls, who called her ‘MOM’, through this phase of their lives, and many continued to stay in contact with her after they graduated. In 1997, Joan moved to the Kappa Kappa Gamma Sorority House and served as their House Director for eight years before she retired to stay home and take fulltime care of her mother.

At her passing, Joan was the longest member of her childhood church, Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church in Kettering, Ohio. She spent many years as a Deacon and was involved in the church’s choir as a singer and the piano player. Joan was actively involved in Dorcas Circle and Presbyterian Women. She taught Sunday School and helped in the Nursery. Joan loved babies.

Joan is survived by her children: Peg Shannon-Drewes and Doug Drewes, Sue (Shannon) and Mike Fries; Bob and Linda Shannon, 9 Grandchildren that she adored and cherished spending time with: Matthew (Shannon) Bishop, Cindy (Shannon) and Michael Frey, Tom (Shannon) and Magenta Coffey, Becky (Fries) and Jesse Darling, Mikey Fries, David Drewes, Nicholas Drewes, Shannon Drewes and Nathan Drewes; 6 Great Grandchildren; her dear cousins, Cindy Kemp, Mary and Cassidy McCullough, Jeff Kemp, Doug Kemp and their families; sister and brother in-law Linda (Shannon) and Mike Stichweh; Nieces: Lora (Ewry) and Tom Roberts, Karen (Stichweh) and Tim Braun and Nancy (Fricke) and Richard Wall; Nephews: John and Lisa Stichweh, Larry and Doris Fricke, Dan and Margaret Fricke and their families.

Joan is preceded in death by her son, Ed Shannon, her parents, John and Mary (Brelsford) Ewry, her brother, Jack Ewry, her dear cousins, Roger and Joyce Kemp, whom Joan called her sister, niece Connie Tilton-Dunlevy and nephews Mike Ewry and Dan Ewry.

Preferred Memorials are Alzheimer's Association or Sugar Creek Presbyterian Church.

The family is holding a private Celebration of Joan’s Life.