Joan A Simpson nee Penokie, age 79, long time resident of Oak Park; beloved wife of Raymond Simpson; loving mother of Lisa and Jeff (Yanet Ramirez) Simpson; sister of Katheryn Busch and the late Bernard ( the late Virginia) Penokie and Mary (the late Guy) Thompson; fond aunt and cousin to many
Joan was born in L'Anse Michigan and graduated from L'Anse High School. She graduated from the American Academy of Art in Chicago where she studied commercial art. Her first job was with R.R.Donnelly where she did line art for the yellow pages. Some of those illustrations can still be found in the classified section of the phone directory. When the children were young Joan worked in the Oak Park studio of Norm Ulrich doing finished art. At FibreCraft Materials Joan enjoyed product design and instruction book illustration.
Joan’s true love was watercolor painting and she studied with several nationally recognized artists where she honed her skills.
Joan was one of the original chairwomen of the Oak Park Woman's Exchange when their shop was on South Boulevard in Oak Park.
Visitation Monday from 4 to 7 p.m. at Drechsler, Brown & Williams Funeral Home, 203 S. Marion St., Oak Park. Friends and family will meet at Ascension Church on Tuesday for mass at 9:30 a.m. Private interment, Evergreen Cemetery, L'Anse Michigan.
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Previous Events
Visitation
13
Aug
203 South Marion Street
Oak Park, IL 60302
Funeral Mass
14
Aug
808 S. East Ave.
Oak Park, IL 60304
Friends and family are asked to please meet at church.