Joan Weber

Joan Weber, 87, formerly of Salem, died June 16, 2013, at her home in Cottonwood, AZ.

Avis Joan Burns was born Sept. 19, 1935, to Clyde and Vivian Burns in Dawson. She graduated at age 16 from Salem High School. In 1952 she married Virgil Lewis Weber at Immanuel Lutheran Church, near Fairview, KS.

Joan accompanied Virgil to three different farms in Nebraska and Kansas, tending to her children, and helping with the farming. In 1967, the family moved from Kansas to southern Arizona, where Virgil worked for his uncle’s fence company.  Joan saw her kids through high school and college there, and the family spent weekends and holidays exploring the deserts and mountains of Arizona.  

Virgil and Joan retired to Rio Rico, AZ, purchasing a home that overlooked Sonoita Creek. Throughout her years in Arizona, Joan was an avid observer of the many species of hummingbirds that migrate through the Southwest, and she established feeding and viewing stations at her homes for the tiny transients.

Virgil died in August of 2010, as did their youngest son, Stan, in November of the same year.  Joan spoke hopefully of the time when she would reunite with them in Heaven.

She is survived by sons, Daniel and Neil; daughter, Sally; six grandchildren; sisters, Dorothy Costa, Frances Burns and Carol Clark; brothers, Roland (Wilma), Ray (Janet), Russell (Becky), Ralph, Roy and Tom (Anna).

She was preceded in death by her brother, Dick, in addition to her husband and son.

Memorial services and interment will be at 10 a.m. Wednesday, July 31, 2013, at Immanuel Lutheran Church at Fairview, KS. Visitation begins at 9 a.m.