Joanne Marie Weisenstein

From her children:

Joanne Marie (Hess) Weisenstein was born on August 30th, 1945 to her parents, Roman Henry Hess and Mary Bertha (Sprouse) Hess, in a small suburban area of Columbus, Ohio. She was the first daughter born to the family and spent much of her early life looking after her younger sisters, Beverly, Diane, and Mary Beth, and her brothers, Donald, John, Jim, David, Thomas, George, Michael, Paul and Steve. Her siblings, including Patty, who unfortunately died within her first year, but nonetheless occupied a special place in mom's family, meant the world to her throughout her life, and no doubt continue to be part of her heart from that place from which she now watches over them all.

Mom was an exceptionally bright woman. She was a painter, a photographer, and a lifelong Christian with an intense passion for study, both of the bible, and of a myriad of other subjects. This thirst for learning only grew with time, and she spent significant portions of her life ministering to others, whether they lived here in the United States, or in countries like Brazil, India and Turkey, where she visited on several missionary trips with her church. She spoke often of these ministries, and of the amazing people she met through them, some of whom became life-long friends and part of her Christian family.

Our family was very poor when my sister, brother and I were born to mom and her then husband, Jack Eugene Weisenstein. We lived not far from the tiny village of Sunbury in north-central Ohio in a house that sat on a small lot with a separate garage/shed and horse barn. Despite the hardship of those times, the three of us look back on them, as mom always did, with great fondness. Mom worked hard to keep food on the table and fuel oil in the furnace, clothes on our backs and school supplies in our backpacks.

She owned and operated a dog grooming business for many years as we grew up, but still made time to take us to church and school, to work with dad and the three of us in our beautiful garden, and to cook, can and preserve all of that produce for the long, cold winters so common to Ohio. We would all take long trips further out into the country to cut firewood that we used to stoke the massive black stove that sat in our family room and heated much of our small house. Mom never shied away from hard work, and never thought twice about sacrificing for others, whether family, friends, or strangers.

With all of the work and toil, mom loved spending time with her parents-in-law, with the many friends surrounding her in our small neighborhood, and attending events with the horse club to which our family had always been connected. She always looked forward to the reunions with her side of the family, and with her many siblings. Perhaps the brightest lights in her life were her grandchildren, Gage Anthony Silvery and Summery Rae Silvery (Tisha's kids), whom she treasured and for whom she ceaselessly prayed.

Mom met our father while working as a draftswoman at the Ohio Bell Phone Company in Columbus, but spent most of her 24-year marriage to dad as a mother, homemaker and small business owner. Later in her life, she pursued another dream of hers; attending college. She studied Graphics Communications and Photography at Columbus State University while building another business that provided residential and commercial cleaning services. Her many clients loved her and became, many of them, good friends of the family, even after mom retired.

Once her cleaning business became too much of a strain on her, mom worked for many more years at Time Warner Cable, where she won awards and recognition for excellence, participated in company video productions as a representative of their work force, and became known for her knack for making strong connections with the customers she served, and with her co-workers and management.

Eventually, she retired from Time Warner and devoted her remaining years to ministering to her friends and family, as well as those brothers and sisters in faith who were part of the various churches she called home from that time on.

She was a lover of nature, a lover of art and music, and she encouraged each of her children to go after their own dreams and talents. She had the brightest smile, eyes that could glitter with mischief, and a laugh that came easily and often. Our family always knew how to laugh, and she was often at the heart of that joy.

Mom was never shy with her opinions, and could go toe-to-toe with almost anyone when she believed she was right, but in the end, she loved more than she loathed, and gave more than she ever received. She had a servant's heart, and strove throughout her life to be worthy of the love that was the centerpiece of her faith and upbringing. She often stirred passionate feelings in the souls she touched, some for good, some for ill, but she was never anyone other than who she was; strong, proud, sometimes defiant, unapologetically herself.

In the end, mom passed away peacefully in her sleep, just as she had lived, with her heart and hope raised heavenward, nearly 58 years after her own mother had passed from the same cruel disease; breast cancer. She fought the good fight, as so many have, but never lost her faith or her belief in those things that meant so much to her throughout her life.

She will be missed by her friends and family, but those who knew her best cannot imagine that she is anywhere but with the creator that was, and would always remain, the true love of her life.

We'll see you again, mom, because, as has been said, no one is ever really gone. You made a mark that will never fade in our hearts.

We love you.

Jack Weisenstein
Roy Weisenstein
Mark and Tisha Reader