Obituary

On Friday, December 13, 2019, Joanalee Githens Horn, loving wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother, passed away at the age of 88.

Born on May 5, 1931 in Mount Vernon, Ohio, to Paul and Mary (Washer) Githens, she spent her childhood there and in Lynn, Indiana. In 1950, she enlisted in the Women’s Army Corps. After training in Texas, she served her three-year tour in the Panama Canal Zone as a medical lab technician.

She was married briefly to Virgil Horn, and during their marriage gave birth to her loving daughter, Marilee.

Joanalee received her bachelor’s degree from the Ohio State University, her master’s degree in Chemistry from Chapman College, and her Juris Doctor degree from Western State College of Law. After teaching at Westminster High School in Westminster, California, she spent her career at Cypress College as a Professor of Chemistry, Chair of the Chemistry Department, and later as Dean of Science, Engineering, and Math.

She met the love of her life and future husband, Wayne Stack, at Cypress College. They were together for 37 years until her death, having lived in Santa Ana, CA, in Solon, OH, and for the past 21 years in Chesterfield, VA.

Joanalee had an especially close relationship with her granddaughter, Kira Clapp, and with her beloved great-grandchildren, Aiden and Kaylynn Clapp. She was a voracious reader and loved to vacation in the Outer Banks of North Carolina with her family. As the matriarch of her family, she was profoundly loved and will be deeply missed.

It was Joanalee’s desire that no service be held, but that donations be made in her memory to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105; www.StJude.org.