JoAnne Hardy

JoAnne Hardy, 84, of Unity, Oregon died on Sunday, July 19, 2020 at Edgewood Spring Creek Assisted Living Senior Care Facility in Fruitland, Idaho with her family at her side.. 

Florence Joan (JoAnne) Stiff Hardy, 84, left this earth peacefully to be with her Lord and God on the beautiful Sunday morning of July 19, 2020 with family by her side.

JoAnne was born on December 4, 1935, the youngest of five children born to Robert Earl Stiff and Clarice (Coffman) Stiff, in Baker City, Oregon.  JoAnne married George Hardy, the love of her life on December 30, 1954 in Baker City, Oregon.  They made their family home on the Hardy Ranch in Unity, Oregon where they raised their six steadfast children.

JoAnne possessed an extraordinary gift of hospitality. She knew no stranger.  She loved people and enjoyed being in their company.  Her home was open to many, whom she generously fed and imparted bits of wisdom.  One stop at the ranch, and you were family.  She enjoyed traveling. When George wouldn’t go with her, she’d take a friend or another family member along to share in her adventure. JoAnne was a woman of many talents…cooking, canning, sewing, crocheting, and knitting. She was always eager to learn from others. She always enjoyed making quilts with the Burnt River Home Extension Ladies and taking classes provided by the Baker County Extension in her area. She even tried her hand at upholstering and painting. JoAnne certainly had a green thumb when it came to growing house plants and had a gift for music. She loved to sing, dance, play the piano, and for many, many years, she could be heard leading the singing while playing the organ at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church.

JoAnne did so much to help her family and fill the needs in her community. Over the years she was a cub scout and 4-H leader, taught piano lessons, taught kindergarten in her home before it was available in the schools, cooked and served at the school cafeteria, drove school/sports bus, refereed volleyball games, wrote a weekly “news” column of the Burnt River area for the Record Courier newspaper, worked as a U.S. Census taker, worked at Stratton’s store, cleaned houses and cared for the elderly. As an employee of the Forest Service, she cleaned offices and helped build the first wheelchair accessible trail at Wetmore, a Wallowa-Whitman campground, and she retired as one of Unity’s Postmasters, a job she thoroughly loved.

Most of all, JoAnne loved and took great pride in her family. She took the cross of having Alzheimer’s in stride. She said God gave her six children because he knew it would take all of them to take care of her. She also knew the blessings that came from her friends. She would say, “You just can’t beat good friends.” She was a strong woman, full of life, with a feisty personality, deep faith, and loved to laugh.  She will be missed by all that knew and loved her.

JoAnne was preceded in death by George, her husband of nearly 60 years, and her sister, LaVaughn Gould. She leaves behind her six children - Sherri (John) Stelljes, Theresa (Ed) Schumacher, Rob (Kelly) Hardy, Bryan (Jeanette) Hardy, Dan (Kristen) Hardy, Alicia Mena, 18 grandchildren and 31 great-grandchildren. She is survived by her sister, Drucilla (Wayne) Carpenter and brothers Duane (Carol) Stiff, Carl (Barbara) Stiff, Greg (Kay) Stiff, Jim (Lisa) Stiff, and Eddie (Anna) Hackett, along with many nieces and nephews.  

Recitation of the Rosary will take place on August 8, 2020 at 9:30 a.m. (PDT) at St. Francis de Sales’ Cathedral in Baker City, OR, followed by a eulogy. A Funeral Mass of Resurrection will begin at 10:00 am (PDT). There will be live streaming of the Mass, which can be accessed at the following link:  https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCT0gtOg_f7HWOs8sIL9gCUw/videos, then you enter Yese Na Velugus Fr. Suresh. Family and Friends are invited to an outdoor reception following the Mass.

Father Camillus Fernando (Fr. Cami) will officiate The Rite of Committal on Sunday, August 9, 2020 at 11:00 am at the Unity Cemetery, the place of JoAnne's interment.

For those who would like to make a memorial donation  in JoAnne’s memory  the family suggests St. Joseph’s Catholic Church or Ronald McDonald House Charities, c/o of Tami’s Pine Valley Funeral Home & Cremation Services, PO Box 543, Halfway, OR 97834.  Online condolences may be shared at www.tamispinevalleyfuneralhome.com