Joanna McLester Garber Wappler, 79, a former Oak Park resident, died on Oct. 30, 2017 with family at her side at Piedmont Henry Hospital in Stockbridge, Georgia. Born in Opelika, Alabama in 1938 to Margaret and Eugene Keenan Garber, she graduated from Shades Valley High School, then ventured north to Chicago to attend Northwestern University. At a church youth group, she met the love of her life, Edwin Gould Wappler, a student at Seabury-Western Theological Seminary. In 1959, the two married and moved to suburban Chicago where Edwin, a newly ordained Episcopalian priest, was curate at St. Gregory Episcopal Church in Deerfield. They spent the next several years serving churches and religious institutions across the country, including St. Martin Episcopal Church in Des Plaines, Claremont School of Theology in Claremont, California, then St. Wilfrid’s in Marion, Alabama.
They also pursued degrees at Duke University, where she graduated Magna Cum Laude with a B.A. in Comparative Religion and her husband earned a doctorate in Ethics.
Their final destination was Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park. Unfortunately, Edwin had to retire from Grace in 1988 due to brain cancer which claimed him in 1991. Suddenly faced with being the sole breadwinner, she went back to college and earned her M.A. in Library Science from Dominican University in 1995. She spent nearly a decade working for the Berwyn Public Library until her retirement in 2006. Afterward, she moved to Jonesboro, Georgia to be close to her family.
At her senior living residence, she called bingo, played bridge, and was a fierce competitor at Scrabble which she played in the occasional tournament. A gentle mother, wife, and friend, she had a bright laugh, a sweet smile, and a forgiving, generous heart. A model of grace and dignity, she never lost her temper or raised her voice. She loved mysteries and religious philosophy, which she read voraciously in her cozy living room in the company of her two cats, Samantha and Barnabus.
Joanna Wappler is survived by her children, Edwin E. (Janice Garcia), David, James (Ingrid), Benjamin (Annette Augst) and Margaret (David P. Earle); her brother, Eugene Garber (Barbara); and her grandchildren, Savannah, Louis, and Dakota Wappler and Silas Edwin Earle.
A memorial service was held on Nov. 5 at St. Augustine of Canterbury Episcopal Church, 1221 Morrow Rd. in Morrow, Georgia 30260. The family appreciates memorials to her church or to the DeKoven Center, 600 21st St., Racine, Wisconsin 53403.
