Obituary of Joanne Hendrix

Joanne Shirley Buchanan was born July 11, 1927 to James William and Grace Evans Buchanan in Hastings, NE. The young family moved to Wray, CO where Jo, as her friends called her, grew up with the joys and heartaches of small town life during the depression and the early years of WWII. Her father accepted a job with the Colorado State Patrol and the family, with the addition of James Evans, moved to Littleton prior to Jo's junior year of high school. Blessed with a lovely singing voice, Jo was very involved in the chorus in school. Following graduation in 1944, she went to the University of Denver to major in English. Her passion and love of the written word was lovingly, if sternly, passed along to her children. While at DU, Jo met Robert Sauve and married him just as her parents moved to Limon to buy and run what became Buchanan Funeral Home and now, Love Funeral Home. From the union of Robert and Jo, a son, Scott was born while the couple resided in Salem, MA. The couple divorced and Jo returned to Limon with her precocious young son. Working for Mountain View Electric Association in the halcyon early days, Jo met Harold Hendrix, and the two were married on May 16, 1954 in Raton, NM. The couple purchased a house and raised Scott in a busy neighborhood bustling with young families. Jo remained involved in singing with a quartet and solo for events, weddings and funerals. In 1961, Harold and Jo adopted a girl, who they named Shelley Jo and the family was a foursome. They had many wonderful vacations as a family and even more joyful silly moments at home. If Harold wasn't pranking Jo or one of the kids, Jo was looking with humor at her clan and poking plenty of her own gentle humor at them. Following Scott's graduation from Limon High School, Jo went back to work at MVEA and was there when the company moved from the old Sill Building to the present location. She marveled as the company upgraded from punch cards to a computer system out of North Dakota. At this time she became very involved in the United Methodist Church and accepted Jesus Christ as her Lord and Savior. This involvement led to an active participation with the American Bible Society for many years where she traveled quite a bit and made many lasting friendships. And she thoroughly enjoyed being part of the church choir even though she was now singing alto instead of soprano. When her youngest graduated from LHS and followed her footsteps to DU, Jo went to work for the Town of Limon as the water clerk. Here again, the march of technology crossed her path as the Town went to a computerized system for the first time in the early 1980s. While she was initially terrified of the machine, she quickly adapted and became very comfortable. The marriage of Scott to Doreen Meis and the births of their children, Kristi and Jeff gave her great joy and pride. "Grammy" was born to play this role and she reveled in it. The arrival of Kaylianna, her great-granddaughter in 2004 was a true pleasure for Jo. Once again, Jo was called to use her passion for English when Shelley started "The Limon Arrow" for a couple of short years in the local market. Jo was strict about grammar and punctuation and there were several disagreements about the disparities of Associated Press style and proper punctuation, but it usually ended with a draw between the two. She became acquainted with a new generation of local business people selling advertising for the paper. Harold retired from the Post Office in 1987 and the couple took a long bus trip to see the New England fall foliage. This was a true joy for both of them before Harold began a long period of illness. Harold passed away in 1996, but Jo was determined to live the rest of her life as fully as possible. She rejoined the UM church and stayed active as long as she could before her own illnesses began slowing her activities. Through all the years, she loved her bridge games with the ladies. She enjoyed the competitiveness and the good-hearted fun of getting together with a diverse bunch of women and spending a few hours playing cards. She also enjoyed the hi-tech computer version of bridge but often grumbled that the bids the game made confounded her sense of logic. Preceded in death by her parents, step-mother, brother, and beloved husband, Jo is survived by Scott and Doreen, Kristi, Paul, Jeff and Kaylianna of Northglenn, and her daughter Shelley of Limon, as well as many dear friends and relatives. Services for Jo will be held Thursday, June 28 at 11:00am at the United Methodist Church of Limon. The family asks you send any memorial donations to the Limon Ambulance Fund P.O. Box 347 Limon, Colorado 80828.