Joan Doretta Crumly
Beloved Wife, Daughter, Mother, Sister, Aunt, Grandmother, Great-Grandmother and Friend

13 August 1939 – 28 June 2025

Joan Doretta Crumly passed away peacefully surrounded by her husband Jerry Lee Crumly and generations of her family, leaving behind a legacy of kindness, strength, and unwavering love. She was a woman of deep compassion, known for her warm heart, gentle spirit, and a quiet wisdom she shared with all who knew her. A wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Joan always found peace and refuge in the love her family and in her Catholic faith.

Born Joan Doretta Cole in Portland, Oregon, Joan was the second child and only daughter of Doretta Pearl (Dody) Spigler - Cole and Donald Edson Cole, Sr. Joan lived most of her childhood with her mother, Dody, and brother Donald Edson Cole, Jr. primarily in Gig Harbor, Washington. Living so close to the water imbued Joan with a love of the ocean which always instilled in her a sense of peace and was always a place of refuge and solace throughout her life.

At the young age of 11, Joan lost her mother to rheumatic heart disease and was profoundly impacted by her mother's death. To fulfill her mother's final request, Joan's father sent his daughter to Holy Angels School, an all-girls Catholic School (boarding school) in Seattle, Washington. Joan's time at Holy Angels was a major turning point in her life. This was where she converted to Catholicism and began her journey in the Catholic faith.

After graduating high school, Joan joined the United States Air Force and was stationed at Randolph Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas. This is where Joan met and married the love of her life, Jerry Crumly. They married at Randolph Air Force Base on July 5, 1958 and this became foundation of Joan's life and family. Joan became the mother to John Michael, Jeffrey David and Joseph Patrick. Further, this established Joan's position as the matriarch of her family. While being a wife and mother was the cornerstone of her life, Joan still felt the need to fulfill a promise to herself, and her mother Dody. This is where Joan began her nursing studies at Bacone College in Muskogee, Oklahoma.

In 1972, Joan graduated from Bacone College with an Associate Degree in Nursing and began her professional life as a Registered Nurse. For her professional life, Joan worked at the VA Hospital in Muskogee, Oklahoma. She found caring for the sick and wounded soldiers to be professionally rewarding and personally fulfilling. Through perseverance and drive, Joan continued her academic studies in Nursing, and in June 1988, Joan graduated from Northeastern State University in Tahlequah, Oklahoma with her Bachelor's degree in Nursing. Joan continued to work as a Registered Nurse in the Intensive Care / Critical Care Unit of the VA Hospital allowing Joan the chance to fulfill a promise to her mother Dody and herself to help heal those she could.

Joan's life was rooted in family, faith, and service. She dedicated herself to nurturing those around her—whether through her family, her career or her volunteer work at Good Shepherd's Clinic or at St. Joseph's Catholic School in Muskogee, Oklahoma. For Joan, being a mother grandmother and great-grandmother added a new level of joy to her life. Joan felt her life fulfilled by becoming a mother. That fulfillment grew when Joan became a mother-in-law to Chantel and Yvette; and it was the joy of being "Nana" to Caitlin, Braden, Zachary, Abigail and Reed that truly enriched Joan's life. Joan often spoke of how truly blessed she felt by having lived longer than her mother Dody and getting to be a grandmother and great-grandmother to all her kids. Joan savored her life experience as Nana and that experience blossomed when Isabella, Isaiah, Greyson, Isael, Leighton Joy, Baker, Hollyn, Frankie, Elijah and Jesse came into her life and only made her life even more complete.

Joan was a devoted mother, a cherished grandmother, an ever loving great-grandmother, and a loyal friend. Her home was always open, her table always full, and her heart always giving. She had a gift for making people feel seen, heard, and loved. Joan is survived by her husband, children and their respective families. Joan was preceded in death by her mother Dody, her father Don Cole, Sr. and her brother Don Cole, Jr.

A celebration of Joan's life will be held on August 23, 2025 at St. Philip's Catholic Church at 5201 Cross Timbers Road, Flower Mound, Texas 75022. In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made in her memory to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Joan's light will continue to shine in the lives of those she touched. She will be deeply missed and forever remembered.