Janet Lee Joiner's Obituary
Janet Joiner Obituary
Services honoring and remembering the life of Janet Lee Joiner will be held 11 AM Thursday, December 5, 2019, at the First Baptist Church in Bixby. Rev. Monte Moran and Rev. David Dillon will be officiating. Janet passed away Monday morning, December 2, 2019, in the presence of her family at Saint Francis Hospital in Tulsa. She was 75.Janet was born on February 12, 1944, at Columbia Hospital in Wilkinsburg, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of a well-respected Steel Worker named John R. Barkley and wife Irene (McClinton) Barkley. Janet loved horses, saving her money as a teenager to purchase and board her own pony. Her grandfather worked at an Estate and tended to the horses there, and Janet would visit often. Janet attended school in Pittsburgh where she graduated from Penn Hills High School in 1962.As a young adult, she relocated to southern California, where her first child John was born during her first marriage. She later met and married Raymond Gaddis in 1971, and they had four children together. Not wanting to raise their children on the west coast, they followed some friends to the Broken Arrow/Bixby area to establish their roots as a family. Janet was known to be very even-tempered or rather, calm, cool, and collected. Her family described her as a peacemaker. A Godly woman, she was strong in her faith and would often say, “I don’t believe in luck…..I believe in Jesus!” Janet was saved in front of her television while watching Billy Graham, whom she admired her entire life thereafter. She was a twenty-five-year member of Heatherridge Baptist Church in Tulsa. A talented artist as well, Janet loved tole painting. Raymond became a very good woodworker, and Janet painted the crafts. They were very talented, and they started a small business called The Bear Connection. They traveled around to local art shows selling their work. Janet was a stay-at-home Mom until her children reached Junior High. She then began working for the Teamster’s Local Union 523. She went on to work for Bob Derby in his insurance office in Broken Arrow, where she later retired. Raymond preceded her in death in 2006.Several years later, Janet reconnected with a friend from the Union named Howell Joiner, who admired her efficient work as a pension and insurance clerk. Janet and Howell emailed back and forth for some time and grew a strong connection. They married on June 4, 2011, at the Travis Mansion in midtown Tulsa. Church involvement was a big part of this couple’s life. They attended the First Assembly of God in Bixby for many years and eventually joined the First Baptist Church. Janet and Howell joyfully supported the Hope for All Nations Ministries where they served on the board there.Surviving family members include her husband, Howell Joiner; her children: John Hite of Trenton, MI, Daniel Gaddis and wife, Erica of Tulsa, Robert Gaddis and wife, Laura of Bixby, Amy Wojtalewicz and husband, Aaron of Tulsa, and Robyn Gaddis of Jenks; her 7 beloved grandchildren: Sydney, Avery, Samantha, and Jacob Gaddis, Marisa and Matthew Wojtalewicz, and Aidan Goldschmidt; and her brother, John “Jack” Barkley and wife, Dorothy, as well as several nieces and nephews. Janet was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, Raymond, and her sister, Jean Pyle. Memorial contributions may be directed to the Board of Hope for All Nations Ministries or the Breast Cancer Research Foundation.
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