Joan R. Woitovich

Joan Woitovich (nee Rodney), 88, passed away on April 3, 2023, after a long illness.

Born in Chicago, Illinois in 1934 to Ray and Minnie Rodney, she is survived by her children, Joanne (John) Lund, Susan Woitovich, and Anthony (Laura) Woitovich, her granddaughters, Alaina (Kevin) Burns and Jacqueline (John) AuBuchon, four wonderful great-grandchildren, and her brother, Richard Rodney. She was preceded in death by her husband, Walter Woitovich, and her brother, Robert (Georgia) Rodney.

Trained as an opera singer, Joan was a life-long opera buff and enjoyed classical music and jazz.  She was an avid reader and was never far from her iPad and e-reader.   Her hobbies included knitting ("a good knitter is a good ripper"), piano playing, sewing, traveling, jewelry making, puzzles, web surfing, and sending news articles to her kids to read.  Her Scrabble games were competitive; she was known for playing obscure words based in Latin learned in high school. Her Fridays always included multiple episodes of Ancient Aliens. 

After living most of her life in the Chicago suburbs, Joan moved to Mesa, Arizona in 2004.  She spent the next 16 years enjoying the sunshine, the desert scenery, the interesting cloud formations and the new friends she made.  In 2020, she moved again, this time to the Nashville area of Tennessee to live with Joanne and John. There, she enjoyed many hours with her grandchildren, great-grandchildren and extended family.  After 16 years of desert scenery, she used to joke that all the green of Tennessee hurt her eyes. 

Joan's family would like to give special thanks to the staff of Alive Hospice for their wonderful care during her final months.

A Celebration of Life will be held at the Williamson Memorial Funeral Home (3009 Columbia Avenue, Franklin TN 37064) on April 29th at 3 pm.  For those unable to travel, her service will be streamed. 

In lieu of flowers, please consider donations in Joan's honor to any of her favorite charities: United Food Bank (https://www.unitedfoodbank.org), AARP Foundation (https://www.aarp.org/), Alive Hospice (https://www.alivehospice.org/), Wounded Warrior Project (https://woundedwarriorproject.org) or the Anderson Humane of South Elgin, Illinois (https://ahconnects.org/).