Obituary of Joanne Lee King

Joanne Lee King was born to Jack and Irma King on August 15, 1948 in Vancouver, WA. She passed away on December 19, 2023. She was the youngest of 3 daughters and grew up in Washougal, Washington. She attended Washougal schools throughout her childhood and graduated from WHS in 1966. Following graduation, she started work at City Finance and then moved to Crown Camas Credit Union. The latter part of her career was in Human Resources and she worked for several companies, including: Vanexco, Boyd’s Coffee and US Bank.

She married her high school sweetheart, Jerry Osborne, in 1966. They were married 16 years and welcomed daughter Christa in 1974 and Kimberlee in 1977. They lived in Camas when they were first married and eventually moved to the Cape Horn area where Jerry’s family resided. Together, with the help of Joanne’s father, they built a new home out there. She would put together picnics for the family and watched her girls play with their cousins. As a family, we spent several summers out on the Columbia River boating and enjoying the company of friends.

She married Michael Sager in 1983. They were married 8 years. She was a step mother to his four children: Mike, Shelly, Jeff and Marty. During this time, Joanne and Mike would often go to the Oregon Coast to ride ATVs with their children. They took trips in their motorhome to visit several places including Yellowstone National Park, the Oregon Coast, and Southern California.

Joanne had many creative talents and took up several hobbies over the years. When the girls were young, she sewed their clothing and made décor items to decorate her home. For over a decade, she made wedding cakes to bring in extra money. Some of her cakes were very large and took quite a bit of work to set them up. Crochet and painting were also things she enjoyed doing. In her later years, she especially loved gardening. In the spring and summer, she was always busy in her flower beds. She loved peonies, roses, and nasturtiums. Her hands were
seldom idle.

She really connected with animals. Her love for them started at a young age. From her beloved childhood cocker spaniel Robby to her most recent three cats, Moosie, Puffy, and Zippy, as well as, many special cats and dogs in between. She loved them all. In her later years, her eyes
would light up when she got to play with a lucky dog or cat that crossed her path.

While her health was still good, she loved to travel. She was blessed to go to many places in her life including many US States, the Bahamas, Mexico, and Amsterdam. She also went on several cruises with her Mom and sisters. Her best friend from grade school, Patti also took her on several fun trips throughout the years.

She loved music. From hard rock to disco, she loved it and loved it loud. She was the headbanger in the family. She loved The Doors, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, Foreigner, Donna Summer, Hall & Oates among many others. She also took several types of dance lessons
which included belly dancing, line dancing, and ballroom dancing.

She loved to shop. Attending garage sales on the weekends were a common thing during the summer. She had a good eye and often purchased things to decorate her home and yard with. She was a fashionista and loved a good deal. When entering her favorite stores, she always made a bee-line to the sales racks. She loved bold colorful clothes, jewelry, and shoes.

She maintained lifetime friendships with several of her high school classmates. They routinely had lunch dates and birthday parties throughout the year. She looked forward to these events and truly enjoyed their companionship.

She lived the majority of her life with Type 1 Diabetes. This is an auto-immune disorder and she was diagnosed with it in her early 20’s. At that time, the tools for managing it were pretty rudimentary. She was told that she would likely live to be only 40 or so. She refused to let this disease define her life. There were many things that she simply chose to do despite the obstacles this disease put in her way. She struggled hard at times and pushed through countless health issues. Lovingly nicknamed, the “Energizer Bunny”, she went on to live almost twice as long as they originally told her and is truly an example of what grit and determination looks like.

She leaves behind daughters Christa Norvell (Jason) and Kimberlee Macrae-Smith (Vince) and grandchildren Keana Macrae-Smith, Matthew Norvell, and Connor Norvell and sisters Linda McMahon and Judy Hammock (Bobby) and several nieces and nephews. She was preceded in
death by her mother, Irma King and father, Jack King.

We would like to extend a truly heartfelt thank you to the Gudishvilli family. You will forever be in our hearts.