Joan Walner was born on November 29, 1946 in Fort Worth, TX, and she passed away on December 6, 2015 after a 10-year battle with early-onset dementia. She is survived by her daughters, Melissa Walner and Kelly Edwards, son-in-law Coby Edwards, brother Bruce Chastain, grandchildren, Dane and Aspen Edwards, and many other extended family members and friends. She was preceded in death by her parents, William (Bill) and Benna Chastain.
Joan grew up in Fort Worth, TX, where she attended Eastern Hills High School and graduated in 1965. She was involved in many activities growing up including dancing and modeling. She did her undergraduate work at North Texas State University where she was proud to be in the Delta Gamma sorority. After graduation, she went on to get a Master of Science in Speech Pathology from SMU.
Joan met her future husband, Ed Walner, when they both lived in the same apartment complex in Dallas. After a long courtship, they were married for 19 years and raised their daughters in Plano, TX. During that time, she worked in private practice as a pediatric speech-language pathologist specializing in children with severe disabilities. She was very passionate about her work and was gifted in her ability to connect with her patients and make a real impact on their lives.
After her daughters went off to college, she moved to Dallas and became very involved at Lovers Lane United Methodist Church. She volunteered in many different roles and was eager to serve anytime they needed her. When she received the terminal diagnosis of frontotemporal dementia, Joan faced it with enormous bravery and said God needed to use her in a different way now. She was not afraid of dying and was ready to go to Heaven whenever it was her time.
The final 10 years of her life were unquestionably difficult, but she maintained a positive attitude and was full of joy throughout most of it. Those who got to know her during this time knew her as a sweet lady who spent her days dancing around the facility and telling everyone how much she loved them.
As her disease progressed and she lost all of her vocabulary, one of the last phrases to go was “Love ya, love ya” and she said it all the time. In the end, that really defined who Joan was – a woman who was absolutely full of love. She loved her family, she loved her friends, she loved her patients, she loved her church, and she loved her caregivers. She lived her life full of love for others, and that’s how she would want to be remembered.
We would like to give a special thanks to the staff at Silverado Senior Living in Turtle Creek for loving her and taking such great care of her in her final years. They are very special people who do an incredibly difficult job every day, and we are so grateful that she spent her final years there.