Joan Louise Waitt

Joan Louise Gaston Smith Waitt, 93, passed away Friday, October 18th, 2024, at her home in Palm Desert, California. Visitation will be 5 to 7 p.m. Friday, October 25, with the family present from 5 to 6 p.m. at Meyer Brothers Colonial Chapel. Services will be held at St. Thomas Episcopal Church, Sioux City, Iowa, on Saturday October 26th at 10:00 A.M., with Reverend Stacey Gerhart officiating in addition to the Reverend Jay Denne. Burial will follow in Logan Park Cemetery, Sioux City, Iowa.

Mrs. Waitt was born May 3rd, 1931, in St. Louis. Missouri, the daughter of William Matthew Gaston and Mildred Emma Armstead Gaston. She moved to Sioux City in 1942, attending North Junior High School and later St. Mary's High School in Faribault, Minnesota. She graduated from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois in 1953, majoring in English.

On October 24, 1953, she married Norman Wendel Waitt of Sioux City, an Air Force veteran and a 4th generation cattleman, with Waitt Cattle Company.

Joan led a busy life devoting her time to raising their four children. She committed herself to many charitable causes and then began a career in real estate until her retirement in 1995.

She was a member and then President of the Junior League, member of the American Girls, board member and then President of the Boys and Girls Home board, and member of the Sioux City Historic Preservation Commission. She then joined the Historic Foundation Board that was instrumental in creating the new Sioux City Public Museum. In later years, she donated to and supported a large number of organizations through the Kind World Foundation, the Waitt Foundation, and also personally.

Joan and Norm were both avid golfers, and members of the Sioux City Country Club and in their retirement, the Rancho Las Palmas Country Club, in Rancho Mirage, CA. 

She is survived by her four children: son Norman W. Waitt Jr., and wife Karleen; daughter Cynthia Louise Waitt and husband Eric Blumberg; daughter Marcia Joan Waitt and husband Terry Nelson; and son Theodore William Waitt and his wife Michele; eight grandchildren including Benjamin Waitt Hunnel and wife Cassie Thompson Hunnel, Stephanie Frances Puddy Campbell and husband Bruce Campbell III, Hailey Peschel Waitt; Samuel Armstead Waitt, Emily Rose Waitt, Natalie Elizabeth Waitt-Gibson, Maxwell Griffin Waitt; Sophia Marie Waitt; great grandchildren Bruce Jackson Campbell IV; Madeline Scott Campbell; and Olivia Joan Campbell; and many nieces and nephews.

She was preceded in death by her husband Norman, her parents, and a half-brother George Clifford Gaston.

In lieu of flowers, memorials can be sent to the Joan Waitt Memorial Fund, c/o The Siouxland Community Foundation, 4425 Singing Hills Blvd, Sioux City, Iowa, 51106.