Joan Marie Zwit's Obituary
Joan Marie (Odenkirk) Zwit went to heaven on September 3, 2021, in Whitehall, MI. After 90 years of life that included a husband of 49 years and four children she is back, with God's grace, her husband, parents, oldest son, sister, and brother.
The child of Virginia and Walter Odenkirk and the sister of Walter (Pum) Odenkirk and Elaine (McClane), Joan was born in Chicago and grew up in Dallas and Orange, Texas, returning to Chicago after World War II. She tried but failed to convince her children that they had it good with tales of walking miles to school in Texas. Always suspicious of those stories, the children later debunked them when finding, during visits to her childhood homes, that the schools were literally across the street.
In 1951, she married her husband, Joseph, and had four children. During the early sixties, she had the whole Jackie-O thing going and was quite the looker. As a mother, she made sure that the family had dinner together every night. No one could leave the table until they ate all their peas, guaranteeing that none of her children enjoy peas today. Her greatest recipes have been handed down to her children-all on their original Jell-O boxes and soup can labels.
Joan was a voracious reader, a watercolorist, and golfer. Never short of books, she loved murder mysteries and history books. Worried she may adopt a plot line from one of the books, her husband and children did their best to stay out of her way. Joan was also an accomplished painter and, by the end of her life, all her family and friends had at least one picture of a country cottage in their collection. We tried to write a joke about her golf game but there was nothing funny about it.
She is preceded in death by her husband, Joseph, and son, Douglas. She is survived by her sons, Brian (Greg Tarker), Timothy (Laurel), and Andrew (Michelle Brady), five grandchildren Nate, Salena, Ian, Doug, and Christian, and six great grandchildren. She has always been in their lives and now she will always be remembered as simply the best mother, grandmother, and great grandmother ever and will continue to always inspire us to always be our best. Joan was deeply religious and most recently was a member of St. James Catholic church in Montague. MI. One of the most important events in her recent life was when all six of her great grandchildren were baptized during a common ceremony in March of 2021.
A visitation will be held at Shoreline Memorial on Tuesday, September 7 from 12 noon till 1pm. A scripture memorial will be held at 1pm. An additional service will be held at the Oaklawn Memorial Gardens Chapel, 9700 Allisonville Rd., Indianapolis (Fishers), IN on Wednesday, September 8 at 1pm.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations to be made to the Amyloidosis Foundation, 7151 N Main St, STE 2, Clarkston, MI 48346, in memory of Douglas Zwit.
Arrangements by Shoreline Memorial Services -- Whitehall Chapel -- (231)-893-5300
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