Joan was born in Baguio, Philippines, to Herald “Blondie” Hill Booker and Marjorie Scovell Spring, alongside her older sister Sylvia. Her start in life was remarkable. Two bouts of malaria sent her mother and the girls to the United States for medical care — a decision that likely saved their lives. They left just as Japanese forces moved on the Pacific. The Philippines fell. Her father Harald was taken prisoner of war, and never came home. He perished on an unmarked POW transport ship bound for Japan, struck by American bombers who had no way of knowing what was aboard. Joan carried that loss always.

Her mother, a nurse, found work up the coast in Willits, Northern California — first placing Joan and Sylvia in a children’s home in Newport while she got on her feet, then bringing them north to join her. In time she remarried. She married the school principal, John, and gave the family solid ground to stand on. When the family moved to Grants Pass, Oregon for high school, Joan thrived — school clubs, the swim team, lifeguarding at the local pool. It was there she met Robert, home from college.

Joan attended the University of Oregon, and she and Robert married on June 4, 1961. They moved to Portland, where she finished her nursing degree at OHSU and worked as a traveling nurse. They settled into a small home in North Plains — Robert designing, Joan nursing — and it was there, in Portland, that they came to faith. The call to make disciples of all nations became the organizing purpose of their lives. Through All Saints Episcopal they took over the youth group, opened their home, and began the work of shepherding others that would never really stop.

Joan and Robert could not bear children, so they adopted Molly (1964), Jason (1966), and Ben (1969). In 1974, after prayer and what our family understands as a miracle, Jonathan was born. That same stretch brought a layoff, an eminent domain notice on their property, and the building of a new home — designed with Will Martin — with an acre garden, an orchard, and as much self-sufficiency as they could manage. In 1976 a devastating car accident left Robert with a nearly fatal neck injury and Jason with a traumatic brain injury that took years to recover from, compounded by Type 1 diabetes. Joan held the family together through all of it, and simultaneously helped build Robert’s professional art career — landing him on the cover of the Oregonian, in the Hillsboro Argus, shows at the Forestry Museum and local libraries, as well as commissions across the region. It was never easy. She made it work.

In the 1980s the family moved their church home to Forest Grove, where Joan served as Women’s Pastor in the Foursquare Church for eight years. She led Bible studies, wrote and taught original curriculum on sexual abuse, anger management, and dysfunctional family counseling, and met people in the hardest places of their lives with both professional skill and genuine love. She authored four books — Lifegiver, Betwixt and Between, In the Midst of the Fray, and The Journey of Intense Quietness. Their home remained open throughout, sheltering and counseling those who had nowhere else to go.

Joan was joyful. She laughed and cried easily, because she loved people and kept no safe distance from them. She was a storyteller. She hiked every day she was able. She never complained — she just dug in and made it work, for her family, her faith, and everyone fortunate enough to be in her orbit.

She died peacefully on February 14, 2026, of complications of Parkinson’s disease. Valentine’s Day. It suits her.

When she rejoiced, she danced.

She is survived by her husband Robert, and children Molly, Jason, Ben, and Jonathan

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