Joan Meigs

            Carolyn Joan Meigs, Hartville, Missouri, departed this life on April 10^th, 2024, at the age of 86 years and 5 months, in Mountain Grove, Missouri. She was born on November 25^th, 1937, in Hartville, Missouri, to Cecil Buck and Audrey Smith Buck. She attended Hartville High School for a time before the family moved to Springfield, Missouri, where she graduated from Central High School in 1955.

            During her time growing up in Hartville, she met and eventually married Donald C. Gregory on October 23^rd, 1955, in Kimberly, Idaho. During their marriage, the couple had five children, Jill Furgason, Keith Gregory, Kevin Gregory, Lisa Tiller, and Amy Lewellen.

            Joan and the family eventually moved to Kansas City, Missouri, where they lived for almost five years and then moved to Hartville. With the help of her sister-in-law, Joan began her career working for the Hartville R-2 School District. She started working as an aide in the library before becoming the elementary secretary. She would spend the next 48 years working for the school district until she retired in May 2018. She watched as generations of students came through her office door and was proud of the fact that she could remember each one of their names even after they had graduated and gone on to have their own children. She became affectionately known as Ms. Joan by her colleagues and former students.

            After the passing of her husband, Don, Joan was united in marriage to Wendell Eugene Meigs on July 1^st, 1995, and spent the next 13 years together on their farm in Hartville raising and training border collies. They loved to travel and especially loved to go in search of good seafood or to make surprise visits to see one of the kids. 

Joan loved to travel and would tag along on many adventures with her daughters, Jill and Amy. Whether it was out west to visit family and spend time in the mountains or to the east coast to visit her son, Kevin, and his family. She also loved a good crafts fair and spent many weekends looking for a good deal. Whenever she was asked if she wanted to go for a ride, her response would be, “let me get my suitcase!” 

Joan loved to spend time in her garden and was always proud of the vegetables and the beautiful flowers that she could grow. She would spend her summers canning and making homemade jellies that she loved to share with family and friends. She was a proud member and president of the Hartville Garden Club for over 20 years. She was also on the state and national garden club boards where she hosted numerous meetings, picnics, and garden tours. She proudly supported the Hartville Community during the Christmas Vespers Services, maintaining the Nativity Scene on the Steele Bluff and the many Alumni Banquets.

In December 2017, she was honored by the Hartville Community and named as the Hartville Christmas Parade Grand Marshall for her many years of dedicated service. She was also honored by the Missouri Retired Teachers Association in 2022, as the Distinguished Retiree of the Year. Even with her many accomplishments, she felt that her greatest achievement was her five children, 15 grandchildren and 9 great-grandchildren.

Joan devoted her life and faithfully began serving Christ as a teenager. She was a member of the Mansfield Church of Christ for many years where she taught Sunday School, and cleaned the church to prepare for the weekly services. Her love of Christ could also be heard and felt every Sunday morning when she sang the gospel hymns that she loved so much.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Cecil and Audrey Buck, her brother, Jack Buck, her husband, Donald C. Gregory, her husband, Wendell Eugene Meigs, her son-in-law, Eric Lewellen, and her son-in-law, Don Furgason.

She is survived by her daughter, Jill Furgason of Bolivar, Missouri, her son, Keith Gregory (Barbara) of Bentonville, Arkansas, her son, Kevin Gregory (Lisa) of Fredericksburg, Virginia, her daughter, Lisa Tiller (Jeff) of Tulsa, Oklahoma, and her daughter, Amy Lewellen (Mike Brooks) of Sparta, Missouri, along with her 15 grandchildren, 9 great-grandchildren, a sister, Cheryl Kaye Brewer of Citrus Heights, California, a sister-in-law, Virginia Buck of Springfield, Missouri, a sister-in-law, Kay Gregory of Rogersville, Missouri, a sister-in-law, Aleta Gregory of Springfield, Missouri as well as numerous nieces, nephews and cousins.

With Joan’s love of all things lovely, beautiful flowers are welcomed, but in lieu of those flowers, the family has asked that memorial donations be made either to the Fair Haven Children’s Home, 3132 North Fairhaven Loop, Strafford, Missouri, 65757 or to continue the beautification of her beloved community to the Hartville Garden Club, donations may be left for either one with the Craig-Hurtt Funeral Home, 280 Main St. P.O. Box 236, Hartville, Missouri 65667.

            The family would like to express a special thank you to the doctors, nurses, and staff at Autumn Oaks Caring Center and Three Rivers Hospice for their kindness and generous help during her stay. The care that she received from you allowed her family to rest easier knowing that she was protected and loved as if she were your own mother.