Joan M. Callaway

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Joan M. Callaway

Joan “Joann” Marles Callaway was born in Peoria, Illinois on July 11, 1929. Her maiden name was Haughey “Hoy,” a good Irish name of which she was proud. She attended Manual High School in Peoria, played on the girls’ basketball team (using her skills later in life to delight her grandson) and graduated with a magna cum laude in Latin. She got a five year diploma at the American Savings and Loan Institute in Chicago in 1952.

She married Rolland Lee Callaway in 1952 (he died 24 years ago also on October 12th). She is the mother of Cathy (Robert Seelinger) Callaway and Susan (David Gray) Callaway; proud grandmother of Nicholas Callaway Seelinger and Madeline Gray, who made her smile with delight. Her sister is Mardell Rapp, who resides in Bartonville, Illinois, and visited her for the last time in September. We sat in the sun in the Bistro and looked at photos and laughed. She has a half-sister, Suellyn Schwartz. She is the Aunt of Carol Urish, Julie Russell, Kevin and Darrin Forsman, and Shanna Callaway-LaFollette. She is further survived by other relatives and friends.

Joan moved to Streator, Illinois when her husband Rolland became principal of an elementary school. Both daughters were born in Streator.

Joan then moved to Milwaukee in 1959, when her husband Rolland became a professor of Education at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. She worked at the School of Education and the School of Nursing, and was involved in other projects at UWM from 1976 until 1988. She was a member of Kenwood United Methodist Church. She was in PEO, Chapter AM, and was a long-time supporter of the School of Education at UWM and the Milwaukee Art Museum. She loved to travel the world, going to China, Panama, Africa, Australia, visiting her family in Greece, as well as in Minnesota and Missouri. She was both a Packers and Brewers fan (although she indulged her husband’s life-long love of the Cubs).

A long-time resident of the East Side of Milwaukee, Joan moved to St. John’s on the Lake in 2009. The care of St. John’s residents and staff cannot be overstated. She died on October 12, 2017 at age 88, after a wonderful life.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to the St. John’s Scholarship Fund, 1840 N. Prospect Ave. Milwaukee, WI 53202. Graveside inurnment Services will be held at 2:00 PM on Friday, November 24, 2017 at Maple Ridge Cemetery, 9711 W. Maple Ridge Rd. Mapleton, IL.