Our beloved Barbara Joan Wilson was called home to be with Jesus and her soulmate Bob Wilson on July 30, 2021. She was an adored wife, mom, grandma, great-grandma, sister, cousin and friend.

Bob and Joan created a beautiful family together. They raised three children: Pat, Debbie and Barbi, along with Bob's baby brother, Donnie. The family has grown to include five grandkids, their spouses and 11 great-grandkids.

Joan brought love, laughter, kindness and grace to everything she touched. She loved to crochet, bake, sing and read to her great-grandkids. She taught her family about love, loyalty, kindness, and how to play poker.

Joan loved Jesus, her husband and her family. She took care of everyone and always made sure everyone was well fed. Her smile, laughter, hugs and gentle nature will be lovingly remembered by all who met her.

Her family will desperately miss her, but we will find comfort in knowing that we will see her again in Heaven where she is living in God's perfect grace.

Barbara Joan Wilson was born December 11, 1939, in Sumas, Washington, to Ina (Townsend) Wager and Gebhard Karl Wager; adoptive parents Allegra (Townsend) Chadwell and Urbin Chadwell.

Joan was raised in the Antelope Valley of Southern California, where she met and married her lifelong protector and partner, Robert Wilson. They married in 1955 and lived life together thereafter until Bob was called home in 2015. Bob worked in the ceramic tile trade for 50 years; talented, artistic and incredibly hard-working, he supported his family with love. He was a man of integrity and devoted his life to his wife and family.

Bob and Joan raised their family with a seemingly effortless grace, young themselves. Their home was naturally a place of welcome where their kids' friends gravitated, often staying, sleeping on the floor or couch, eating, talking, knowing love and acceptance.

Joan returned to school when their children were in high school and received her nursing degree. She worked for some years as a hospital nurse, and later in life as a pre-school teacher, a caregiver in a residence for Alzheimer's patients, then as a caregiver in homebound individuals' homes.

Bob and Joan moved to Oregon in 1996 where they would live for 15 years, enjoying life close to daughter Barbi and family, making true friends in their small town of Union. In 2011 they moved to Oklahoma to be near son Patrick and daughter Debbie and family. Soon there was a circle of people who knew and cared for them. With each move, they made a home that was their own, with much the same feel as their first home in California.

Joan had an innate love for all animals, and she quietly demonstrated this with compassion throughout her life. Her own pets basked in that love, and in recent years many foster dogs did too.

In 2018, Joan moved to Arkansas to be near daughter Debbie and grandchildren. She has lived the remaining years of life true to her gentle spirit and joy of life, loved by neighbors and cherished by family.

Joan is survived by son Patrick and Jeannie Wilson, daughter Debra Ayres, daughter Barbara and Michael Hemmer, grandchildren Michael and Jana Ayres, Scott and Erin Ayres, Tiffany Thome, Bobby and Heather Hemmer, Misti and Russ Southard, great-grandchildren Lucas, Lena and Elizabeth Ayres, Ivy Ayres, Peyton, Taylor and Collin Thome, Ashley and Carson Hemmer, Robert and Reagan Southard, sister Judy and Charlie Dragoo, brother Dick Kramer, sisters-in-law Kelly Hall and Eloise Weaver, brother-in-law Marty and Kate Buck, and cousin Virginia Kostelyk.

She was preceded in death by her husband Robert Wilson, brother-in-law Donald Hall, and son-in-law Robert Ayres.

Pryor First Church of God was an important and meaningful place of worship for Joan, and a donation in lieu of flowers may be considered to honor her memory.