Joan Morrow Duffy

Joan Morrow Duffy, beautiful soul, beautiful wife, beloved mother, and perpetually curious student of life passed away peacefully on November 11, 2025, surrounded by love. Born in Lincoln, Nebraska on July 2, 1933, Joan was raised in Chicago with deep family connections on both her maternal Gieseke and paternal Morrow sides of the family. Younger siblings Mike and Debbie arrived to complete their household. As a young child Joan spoke German with her grandmothers until World War II made speaking German out of fashion. She studied at Iowa State University and the University of Hawaii, earning a bachelor’s degree in general studies with emphasis in several disciplines including Home Economics, Spanish, English, and a handful of other pursuits. She was an avid reader throughout her life, well versed in a world of topics, and a stoic observer of human nature.

At Iowa State, Joan met her husband Pat with whom she shared four children and 67 years of marriage. Capable of almost any endeavor, Joan set her sights on being a great mother, the only career she ever wanted to pursue. She raised Anne, Susie, Katy and Mike with the philosophy that “children are not creatures to mold, but to be allowed to unfold,” guiding her children respectfully into each of their unique personalities. She exposed her kids to worldly concepts, taking them to the library every week of their childhood and encouraging them to check out as many books as they wanted. She was a good listener and exhibited great self-control, allowing her kids to make mistakes and learn from them, while also catching them before they fell too far. She was immensely patient and never raised her voice. She went back to work once Mike was in grade school, serving in the gifted and talented program and the library at schools in Richardson, Texas, to earn the money that sent each of the kids to college fully paid.

Joan set an excellent example for healthy living. She was into granola, Grape-nuts, vitamins, and whole-food eating long before it was mainstream. She cooked from scratch for her family and included dishes from around the world, like sukiyaki, chicken paprikash, and sauerbraten. She passed a love of cooking and wholesome pursuit of good nutrition on to each of her children. She stayed fit all her life, first with calisthenics at home each morning when the kids were young, then bike riding around the neighborhood every morning before the kids woke up during their school years, and then Tai Chi, which she practiced every single day for forty or so years, up until just the last few months of her life.

Once the kids were grown, Joan and Pat moved several times searching for the ideal place to live - going from Richardson, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico to Scottsdale, Arizona to Kerrville, Texas - landing in Fort Worth to be back nearer to their kids. Wherever she went, Joan was a quiet volunteer and supported many charities. She knit baby blankets and baby booties, and for several years she knit one baby cap each week for the Gabriel Project Baby Closet at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Catholic Church in Keller, Texas. She proctored exams at Schreiner University and washed the altar linens for Notre Dame Catholic Church in Kerrville. She met many of her friends through church and almost always had a regular group of women with whom she played bridge.

In later years Joan loved to travel with her kids – throughout the US and in Europe and Mexico. She also loved to visit with her grandkids – Claire (husband Chris), Jack (wife Katie), Lizzie, John, Joe, Mikey (wife Rachel), Candace (husband Nainoa), Christopher, and Connor. She was a welcoming mother-in-law to spouses Hance, Dale, Bob, Courtney, and partner Dan. She had an especially beautiful bond with Courtney whom Joan thought of as a daughter, who cared for Joan lovingly in the last many months of her life, and whom Joan sought out for comfort due to her grounded sensibility. Joan set a wonderful example for all of us, exhibiting faith, compassion, elegance, self-control, unmitigated love of learning, and an extremely dry sense of humor. She will be missed by all who love her and who count her presence in our lives as a blessing from heaven.

Joan is preceded in death by her brother Mike, mother Eleanor, father Shag, husband Pat, and daughter Katy. She is survived by the many family members listed above. Funeral Mass will be held on December 5, 2025, at 11:00 a.m. at Good Shepherd Catholic Church, 1000 Tinker Rd, Colleyville, TX 76034, followed by a reception at the church. Memorial donations in Joan’s memory may be made to Catholic Relief Services.