HAMPSTEAD — Joan Mary Wagner Obernesser, 83, loving wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, passed away just before 1 p.m., Wednesday, Nov. 8, 2017, after a brief stay at Hospice of Lower Cape Fear’s Care Center in Wilmington, N.C.
A longtime resident of New Hanover County, she joins her husband of 62 years, Don, and only sibling, her sister, Millie, and leaves behind five children, Karen, John, and his wife, Kathleen, Jim, and his wife, Nickie, Lynn and Paul; as well as her sister’s only child, Susie, and her husband, Bo, and her children, Jason, Tiffany and Alicia, and her daughter, Sierra; along with her grandchildren, Jenny, Brian, and his wife, Cat, Aimee, and her husband, Eric, Baylie, and her husband, Tom, Bethany, Ashley, and her husband, Raymond, and Shanee; and her great-grandchildren, Isabella, Damian and Kaleigh.
She was born in Milwaukee County, Wis., and graduated from Waterloo High School in Wisconsin. She attended Carroll College in Wisconsin before marrying. She returned to school to earn her Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from the University of North Carolina-Wilmington in 1982, and later, earned another Bachelor of Arts, this time in music, also from UNC-W, in 2006.
Her passions, after her family, were Green Bay Packers football (she was a devout Cheesehead), golf, travel and anything with Matthew McConaughey in it. She took great pleasure in her many years of volunteer work at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington in support of the ailing. But above all else, she loved music. She was the music director and organist at All Saints Catholic Church in Hampstead, N.C., for many years. She taught piano, and was a longstanding member of Sweet Adelines International, holding positions as a chorus director, as well as a member of several different, award-winning choruses and quartets over the years.
She also loved to entertain, both formally and informally. She always maintained a plethora of baked goods, sweets and candies to share with all, and the term “Joby’s dessert camp,” was coined at some point to describe what everyone who knew her could expect any time they came to visit her home.
The family will receive friends from 6 to 8 p.m., Thursday, Nov. 16, at Andrews Hampstead Chapel, next to Sea Lawn Memorial Park, 17750 US-17, Hampstead. A funeral Mass will be held at 2 p.m., Friday, Nov. 17, at All Saints Catholic Church, 18737 US-17, Hampstead. Immediately following the Mass, internment will occur after a brief graveside ceremony in Sea Lawn Memorial Park, 18737 US-17, Hampstead.
The family requests that in lieu of flowers, in memoriam gifts be sent to Lower Cape Fear Hospice, 1414 Physicians Drive, Wilmington, NC 28401; All Saints Catholic Church, 18737 US-17, Hampstead, NC 28443; Carroll University (formerly Carroll College), 100 N. East Ave., Waukesha, WI 53186; or Sweet Adeline International Headquarters, 9110 S. Toledo Ave., Tulsa, OK 74137.
Share online condolences with the family at andrewsmortuary.com.
