Joan Hitchcock February 20, 1932 – January 03, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Sign Guestbook| View Guest Book Entries| Send Private Condolences| Send Sympathy Card Billie Joan Hitchcock was born on February 20, 1932, in St. Louis, Oklahoma to Ray and Faye (Moon) Hitchcock. She passed away January 3, 2019, after a long struggle with heart issues and COPD. She took the name of Joan Prather at two years of age when Faye married Clyde Prather.
Her growing up years took her to many states including OK, TX, WY, UT, WA and CA. She loved spending time with her cousins. She considered them siblings and always told fun stories of their adventures.
When she was 16 years old, she worked her first job at The Blue Bird Cafe in Cloverdale, CA. At 18, she was hired to work for the Italian Swiss Colony wine company putting the baskets on each bottle of wine. Joan met Joe Cavagnaro in Cloverdale, and they married January 11, 1952.
They lived in Cloverdale, Sulphur Hot Springs and Geyserville. She had her first son, Rick, while living in California. About two and a half years later, they moved to Tioga, ND when Joe went to work for R.A. Prather & Sons Oil Well Servicing Company.
While in Tioga, they welcomed a daughter, Julie, and another son, Billy. She loved living near her parents and raising her kids there. By 1960, they had moved to Lignite, ND to run the company yard for the Prathers.
While living in Lignite, she was a homemaker who loved spending time with her kids. She enjoyed bowling on a league and cooking the most amazingly delicious food. When Joan and Joe divorced in 1972, she took Julie and Billy and moved to Lacey, WA.
She worked as a waitress at The Bailey Motor Inn and The China Clipper. In 1974, she married Daryl Baker and traveled with him for his job all around the West. She had various jobs over those years including a taxi cab driver in Reno, NV.
During this time, she became Grandma, one of her favorite roles. In 1981, she moved back to Lacey, where she worked at The Oyster House and Yard Birds before moving to Reno, NV in 1986. There she worked at several casinos including her favorite job at Circus Circus.
In 1991, she moved back to Cloverdale, CA to care for her cousin, Delores McPherson. They had a sisterly relationship so it was a such a blessing for them to spend time together. They had lots of fun and the stories about their teenage years are hilarious.
She and Delores moved to Lacey in 1993 to be closer to their family. In 2010, she moved to Rosemont, an assisted living facility in Yelm, WA and lived there the rest of her life. They were so kind and treated her like family.
She was a devoted daughter and a loving and fun mom and grandma. She had a delightful sense of humor and her laugh was infectious. She loved to fish and could spend hours sitting on a dock enjoying the quiet.
She loved to read, play Scrabble, do crossword puzzles & word searches, listen to country music, especially Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis, cook and watch television. Joan is preceded in death by her father, Ray Hitchcock, her dad Clyde Prather, her mother Faye Prather and her two sons Rick and Bill Cavagnaro, and sister Nancy Jo Hitchcock Lowe. She is survived by her daughter Julie (Mike) Hepburn of Lacey, siblings Thomas Ray Hitchcock, Patricia Hitchcock, Mary Hitchcock, and her grandchildren Hope Cavagnaro of The Dalles, OR; Josh Hepburn of Lacey, WA; Melissa (Jesse) Weldon of Valencia, CA; Brian (Alexandra) Hepburn of Spokane, WA and many cousins whom she loved dearly.
There will be a memorial service for Joan on February 2 at 1:00 pm at the Olympia-Lacey Church of God, 5005 Lacey Blvd. , Lacey, WA.
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