 DEBRUIN, JO ANN age 81, died on August 28, 2013 in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She was born on March 26, 1932 in Wichita, Kansas to Gilbert and Blanche Buck. As a traveling salesman, her father took over a route in Roswell, New Mexico. He brought the family, including her only sibling Dan, to Roswell when JoAnn was in second grade. She met her first husband, Farrell Watson, while at Roswell High School and they were married in 1950. They attended New Mexico State University for a year, where she studied home economics and music. They then moved to manage a ranch near Fort Stanton. She was quite content there with horses and her first son, Steve, but the ranch was sold a few years later and the family returned to Roswell. She then had another son, Michael, and a daughter, Julie. In 1963, the family moved to Portales so she and her husband could attend Eastern New Mexico University. She initially worked through school as a dorm parent, and later as a waitress to support her family. JoAnn graduated with a Bachelors degree in Special Education in 1973. She briefly moved to Eunice to teach for a year before returning to Portales and completing a Master's degree in Elementary Education in 1976. JoAnn met her third husband, Dr. Hendrik deBruin, at Eastern, and they and daughter Julie moved for Hank's work as a professor to South Bend, Indiana and then to Charleston, South Carolina, and finally to Gallup, New Mexico in 1982. At each of these places, JoAnn taught at public schools and helped to develop Resource Rooms for Special Education students, and she retired from teaching in 1994. While at Gallup, she volunteered for the Gallup Intertribal Ceremonial for some twenty years, and with Hank, spent a great deal of time participating in the Elks and Masons, including Eastern Star. She had a passion for her dogs, including Shelties Follie, Gracie, Cyd, and Punkin, and at last her "dolly" Shih-Tzu Bitsy. JoAnn also spent time working on her art and crafts, even briefly opening her own specialty store for crafts materials in Gallup. She and Hank moved to Albuquerque in 2006, to be closer to family, where they lived at Bear Canyon Retirement Center, Enclave apartments, and finally at Atria Vista del Rio. There she enjoyed traveling, participating in the Red Hat Ladies, and working on her art and jewelry. JoAnn is survived by her son Steve Watson (and Brooke) of Albuquerque, daughter Julie Watson (and Holly) of Corrales, son Michael Watson (and Monica, and granddaughters Alyssa and Michaela) of Oxnard, California; and her sister-in-law Masako Buck and nieces Cindy Buck and Linda Buck-Vasquez, all of California. The family would like to thank numerous individuals, especially during the year and a half since Hank's passing: her friends Ena Soflin and Susan Landers, Don and Ruth Holland, and Twila and Jim Moots; Reverend Layloni Drake, Dr. Ellen Kim, Dr. Thomas Dimperio, Dr. Mark Erasmus, Roland Moore; and Abby Figueroa and the staff of Atria Vista del Rio, especially Becky, Anna, Rieko, and Thalia. A memorial service will take place at Asbury United Methodist Church in Albuquerque on Saturday, September 21st, at 1:30 p.m. You can make a donation in her memory to any of the following charities: Animal Humane New Mexico, 615 Virginia Street SE, Albuquerque NM 87108; American Humane Association, 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 360, Washington, D.C. 20036; or Ballut Abyad Shrine Center, 6600 Zuni Road SE, Albuquerque NM 87108. If you wish to send a remembrance, please send it to P.O. Box 3096, Corrales, NM 87048, or online at www.riversidefunerals.com
|
