JoAnne Kemper, age 84, of Clinton, Missouri passed away on Wednesday, June 14, 2023 at Adair Village in Clinton, Missouri. Funeral services will be held at 11:00 AM on Saturday, June 24, 2023 at the Clinton Christian Church in Clinton, Missouri. Burial to follow in the Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, Missouri. Memorial contributions can be made to the Clinton Christian Church or the Henry County Museum and may be left in care of the funeral home.
JoAnne Kemper was born on February 14, 1939 in Manhattan, Kansas to Robert and Helen (Harris) Olson. JoAnne went to work at Household Finance Corp just after graduation and it was a job she really liked. On her 19th birthday, her mother married her boss and the company decided she shouldn’t work for family, so she spent that summer traveling around Kansas filling in at other HFC offices during vacations or training new employees. Reluctantly, she transferred to the office in Salina.
While in Salina, she met “Sonny” Robertson and was married in May of 1959. They had a daughter, Andrea, in October of 1960; another daughter, Cheryl, in March of 1962 and a son, Jim, in October of 1964. They moved to North Kansas City in 1966. She had several part time jobs, worked for a bank for a year, at the school library, but they divorced in 1976.
By then, Andrea was a senior in high school, graduated early and moved to Chicago to live with her dad for a short time. A year or so later, Jim missed his dad and moved to Chicago for part of junior high and high school. Cheryl was a sophomore in high school and stayed in Kansas City.
JoAnne was working for a lawyer in North Kansas City, while taking paralegal classes at Rockhurst. While working there, she met C.W. Kemper, an aerial photographer and jeweler from Clinton, Missouri. He was taking aerial shots for condemnation lawsuits for Truman Dam. This attorney also represented Len Dawson, former KC Chiefs quarterback.
C.W. started flying when he was around 14, and had flown in Europe during the war in Korea, but his great love was WWII airplanes. He spent wonderful summer weekends flying to airshows along with a small group, started a Confederate Air Force Squadron, which has now become the CAF Wing located in Olathe, Kansas. He also had a hangar at the Clinton airport and several personal WWII planes over the years. C.W. decided JoAnne was surely a “keeper” when he did a loop in a little L-2, that she affectionately called the little “cardboard airplane”, which caused her to yell a few choice words, but immediately asked him to do it again. They dated for several years and then married in 1987.
They traveled to Europe in 1992, a gift from the CAF group. They made no reservations other than train tickets, took what they could carry and rode the trains through England and Scotland; rode the hovercraft to Belgium and rode more trains through Luxembourg, southern Germany, and Switzerland. Of course, they went to the Hofbrauhaus in Munich where C.W. used to go when he was in Europe. They had a terrific time. After this they concentrated their efforts on running Keil’s jewelry store that had been in C.W.’s family since 1870, the oldest jewelry store in the State of MO.
JoAnne was an active member of the Clinton Christian Church, Historical Society, Rural Fire Board, the PEO Chapter EN Sisterhood and the Lorna Kemper Club and had a real passion for volunteer work at various local charities. She was also an avid Kansas City Chief’s fan.
JoAnne is preceded in death by her parents, and her husband C.W. Kemper.
Survivors include her children; Andrea Pruitt, Jim Robertson, Cheryl Tyndall, Lorna Kemper, her sister Marilyn Cochran, 11 grandchildren, 10 great grandchildren and many more beloved family and dear friends.
JoAnne Kemper’s “See Ya Later Service” was held June 24, 2023 at the Clinton Christian Church with Pastor Tim Wessley officiating. Special music included “There’s a Sweet, Sweet Spirit In This Place, Blessed Assurance performed by Elaine VonSpreckelsen, I Can Only Imagine, You’ll Never Walk Alone Again performed by Nina Sisk, Amazing Grace, Just a Closer Walk With Thee performed by Elaine VonSpreckelsen, Give Me Jesus and Sentimental Journey.” The casket bearers were Jim Robertson, Winston Robertson, Kyle Semon, Zach Koehnlein, Matt Tyndall, Justin Semon, Roger Koehnlein, and Trey Tyndall. Sam Kaiser was an honorary bearer. Interment followed in Englewood Cemetery, Clinton, MO.
Services were under the direction of Vansant-Mills Funeral Home of Clinton, MO.
