Sandra Nickel

Cremation Services of Pennsylvania

Joseph Nickel

Altogether<br/>4307 Vineland Road, Suite H-17-19, Orlando, FL 32811<br/>For more information, visit our website at <a href='www.altogetherfuneral.com'>www.altogetherfuneral.com</a><br/>Copyright © 2025 FPG Intermediate Holdco, LLC

JoAnne (Griffiths) Keaveny passed away July 30, 2020, in Olympia, Washington.  She was born November 13, 1923, in Streatham, London, England, one of eight children of William and Susan (Fletcher) Griffiths:  Bill, Tom, Meg, Gwen, Eve, Bob and John.  JoAnne was always very proud of all of her siblings and was thankful for all of them.  At the age of 16, she finished school and worked as a scullery maid.   When World War II broke out in London, she was there.   She recounted the stories of buzz bombs and air raid shelters and gas masks as they were a part of daily life.  JoAnne also remembers seeing the face of a German pilot as he flew over.  Her siblings all joined the War effort and deployed to various parts of the world.

 

In 1940, she enlisted in the WAAF.   She worked for the Ministry of Transportation, where she also volunteered at the local Red Cross. It was there that she met her future husband (a Yank),   Edward Keaveny.  He was the best dancer!  Apparently, he convinced another airman to sell him his ticket so he could dance with JoAnne.  He was in the U.S. Army Air Corps, and they married July 29, 1944.   He was deployed to France and eventually rotated back to New York.  She and their young son, Michael, were still in England awaiting transportation to the States.

 

JoAnne and Michael travelled on the Queen Mary with 2,000 women and children from England to New York and arrived on February 10, 1946.   This was the first ship of G.I. brides to the U.S. after the War.   Her husband borrowed his friend’s press pass and camera and jumped on the tug with the press corps and went out to meet the ship as it pulled in to New York Harbor.   She spotted him right away.  The joke was always that there was no film in the camera.  

 

She then met the Keaveny family and learned to live in a new country with new customs and traditions, but never forgot where she came from. She spent the rest of her life keeping in touch with her family in the U.S. and in England.  As JoAnne and Ed travelled throughout the years, they always kept in touch and visited family and friends.   It was important to both of them to keep those connections.   They had both grown up in difficult times so friends and family were their treasures.   JoAnne always took pictures and, although all of us griped at the time, we are now thankful that she took those pictures and shared them with all of us along with the stories that went with them. 

 

JoAnne and Ed would eventually travel back to France and England since Ed re-enlisted in the Army.   They would have three more children during that time.  Bob was born in New York, Tim was born in New Jersey, and Susan was born in France.  After traveling with the Army, they would eventually settle in Eatontown, New Jersey, where Ed worked for the Civil Service after his military career, and JoAnne became a visiting homemaker.  They worked hard together to make a good life for their four children.  We had many wonderful trips to England and Europe over the years, reuniting with family and friends.  After Ed retired from Civil Service, they made a trip to England to retrace their original steps.  They both were so happy to be able to do it. 

 

In 1988, JoAnne and Ed moved to Olympia, Washington, to be near their daughter Susan and family.   They enjoyed living there in the retirement community of Vista Village.  They met lots of wonderful people and were just beginning to enjoy life when Ed got sick and passed away in 1991.   After Ed’s passing, JoAnne spent lots of time with her grandson Michael, and also took several trips with her sister Eve to visit her children and grandchildren, as well as their relatives in England.  She also joined the Nisqually Military Widows group and enjoyed the friendships that she gained with that group; until recent years, she attended their meetings and coffee groups.   She was an avid gardener and loved to be out with her hands in the dirt, planting something.  JoAnne also walked two miles a day until her health would no longer permit it.   She taught Children’s Church with daughter Susan up at the Fort Lewis Main Post Chapel.   She loved spending time with children and she enjoyed helping others.   She always said that you should “Treat others as you would want to be treated” and “A job worth doing is worth doing well.”  

 

In the last few years, JoAnne’s eyesight was failing, so she discovered something new – Washington Talking Books.   She spent hours listening to the books on tape.   They provided an amazing service to her and she very much appreciated being able to now listen to books since she was no longer able to read them.  She loved reading.  As a child, she read with a flashlight under the covers until her older sister Meg made her go to sleep.

 

We will deeply miss our Mom/Nana.  She was a guiding light, a force that could not be reckoned with, and had a kindness about her that always had time for you.   Her determination was unparalleled and her kindness unmatched.  She loved us all deeply and it showed.  She never forgot a birthday, anniversary, or a special day.   We are eternally grateful that God blessed us all with her.

 

“A mother is she who can take the place of all others but whose place no one can take.”

 

Here is an excerpt from one of her favorite poems by Alfred Lord Tennyson:   “Ours is not to reason why, ours is but to do or die.” 

 

Here is another poem that she left to be shared with everyone:    

Since life cannot be all sunshine

I wish well for you

Faith to light you

Hope to guide you

Love sincere and true.

 

A quote from her grandson: “She was the best grandmother in the world.  Patient, funny, and loving. She made her grandchildren feel they could accomplish anything if they worked hard.  She had an amazing laugh.”

 

The family wishes to express sincere gratitude to the Hospice Team from Assured Hospice and the staff at the Sequoia Assisted Living.    They were all so kind, and treated her as if she was part of their family.

 

JoAnne leaves behind her son, Michael in Florida; her son, Bob (wife, Janet) in Texas; her son, Tim (wife, Suzanne) in Oregon; and daughter, Susan (husband, David) in Washington.   She also leaves her grandchildren, Robert Patrick (wife, Linda) in North Carolina, Jennifer (husband, Prasanna) in Massachusetts,  Brian in North Carolina, Jamie (wife, Shanna) in Texas, Kelly (husband, Lucas) in Florida, Michelle in Oregon, and Michael (fiancée, Lauren) in Florida; and great grandchildren, Hudson, Anika, Carter, Emily, Griffin, and Sawyer.

 

The family will have a private service at a later date due to Covid.  

 

In lieu of flowers, the family is asking that you make a donation in the name of JoAnne Keaveny to The Washington Talking Books and Braille Library.  You can donate online or you can mail a donation to WA State Heritage Center Trust, P.O. Box 40222, Olympia, WA  98504-0222.   (Note donation for the WTBBL.)

 

Please leave condolences or share memories and photos on the Tribute Wall to the left.

 

 

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JoAnne Keaveny Obituary | Altogether