It is with profound sadness that we announce the passing of our mother, JoAnne (McGhee) House, on August 11, 2021. She died peacefully at her residence in Antioch, California, in the gentle embrace of her son and surrounded by the love of her family. She was extraordinarily proud to have surpassed her 90th birthday.

Born in the country near Virgil, Kansas to George and Doris (Cobb) McGhee, she was the beloved mother of Teresa (Ben), Michael (Alison), and Deborah (Larry), and proud grandmother of Christopher (Arisa) and Stephanie (Vincent), Maliko (Jonathan) and Michiko, and great grandmother of Adrianna and Aliyah.

JoAnne grew up on the prairies of Kansas with her big brother Kenny. Her father worked oil leases around Virgil, Madison and Ellis, and her mother gave piano lessons and played the organ for the First Christian and Methodist Churches. JoAnne was a musical prodigy who learned to play the piano before she could walk and would express her every emotion at that instrument throughout her life. Working at Boeing in Wichita as a young woman, she sang at Shadowland Supper Club in the evenings. Later she received training as a fashion model and did some modeling until her travels as an Air Force wife took her away. She was a lifelong member of the Eastern Star.

A voracious reader, she consumed a book a day until the very end. She especially loved murder mysteries and any story that involved tasty recipes. When she wasn't reading, she would share stories about growing up on the oilfield, her early life as a model and singer, experiences in Turkey as the wife of an Air Force officer, and pass along the family stories of her mother and father.

She will be sorely missed, but we find comfort in knowing that she has returned home to be with her mother, father, brothers, and all her cousins she loved so well.

Her funeral will be held on October 9th at 3:00pm at the Janesville Cemetery in Hamilton, Kansas.