Joanna Townsend

Joanna Josephine Benecke Townsend, 87, of Prairie Village, KS passed away on Tuesday, August 21, 2007. She was born September 16, 1919. She was the child of Ruby Waldo Benecke and Eleanor Floy Magruder of Brunswick, MO. She was married to William Wesley Townsend and he predeceased her in 1972. She had previously been a resident in Moberly and Clinton, MO as well as Kansas City, Kansas. She was Valedictorian of the 1937 Brunswick High School where she was also Captain of the Girls' Basketball Team, attended Lindenwood College for Women in St. Charles, MO and graduated from the University of MO at Kansas City in 1971 as well as from the Chillicothe Business College. Joanna was particularly proud of being selected as a counselor-advisor for President Johnson's Job Corps. She had traveled to every state in the Union except Florida and had visited numerous foreign countries. She was a member and had served as an officer in the Elizabeth Benton Chapter DAR, Merriam Music Study Club, Johnson County Rose Society, American Association of University Women, PEO, Presidents and Past Presidents and Woman's City Club. Survivors include sons Tom and John (Jerry) and their wives, grandchildren Bill, Mike, Gary and Nicole, Brother Louis (Waldo) Benecke, and two cousins Tom and Jim Plunkett. Another granddaughter Kristy died in 2005.

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