Joan L. Stewart

Honorary Life Member Joan L. Stewart – 1932-2025 - Tribute

It is with sincere regret that we announce the passing of Joan Stewart on November 3, 2025. A Memorial Service will be held at Lucas Funeral Home Chapel, 700 W. Wall St, Grapevine, TX on Thursday, November 20, 2025, at 10am.

Joan Stewart’s contribution to Grapevine Garden Club was acknowledged as an Honorary Life Member in 2022. The listing of an officer and chair responsibilities over 40 years can’t truly reflect how involved Joan has been in the club’s projects and activities but they include: Scholarship 1985-87; Excursions 1987-91; 3rd VP 1988-89, 1999, 2000; 1st VP 1989-91; Ways and Means 1991-92; President 1992-93; Grapevine Beautiful 1992-94; Arbor Day 1994-2001.

Our members became familiar with Joan’s love of gardening with the many visits we made to the Stewart home. It was the site for a membership brunch in 1990 when the Grapevine Sun wrote, “Blue carpet juniper, roses, crape myrtles and several other plants can be viewed in the three-leveled, terraced backyard of the home of Roy and Joan Stewart. A covered porch and decking surrounding a greenhouse provided the setting for the membership brunch and garden party.” The Stewart greenhouse was also the location for preparing the members’ horticulture entries for Flowercade for many years. The Stewart garden was featured in one of GGC’s public garden tours that raised money to support civic and scholarship programs. If guests wanted to have a yard with no lawn to mow and plants that require minimal watering, the Stewart garden illustrated what was possible. Indeed, Joan’s appreciation for adapted and native plants prevailed throughout her life and many thrived after her move to assisted living, including the spring bluebonnets and summer purple cone flowers that lined the driveway

Joan graduated from North Texas State with a BA and earned a Master’s degree at TCU before serving as an art teacher and reading specialist in public schools. After retiring as a fifth grade teacher at Cannon Elementary in 1984, she volunteered as a tutor in Bennie Gilliam’s Timberline Elementary classroom for over 20 years. In 2006 the Timberline PTA presented Joan their “Friend of Children” award. As Pamela Price wrote in Grapevine’s Most Unforgettable Characters, “Although Joan is a “retired teacher”, she lives the philosophy of “once a teacher, ALWAYS a teacher!” So, it isn’t surprising that any chance she had, Joan served as a docent for children’s groups visiting the Grapevine Botanical Gardens.

In addition to her involvement with GGC, Joan was very active in Women’s Division of the Grapevine Chamber of Commerce serving as chair of the New Teacher Luncheon for Grapevine- Colleyville ISD, organized a project to provide school supplies for deserving children in Grapevine, participated in the Christmas Spirit project with GRACE to help senior citizens, and was honored as the Woman of the Year in 1997-1998. In 1994 Joan was one of the charter members of the newly created Baylor Medical Center Women’s Advisory Council. (Later renamed the Baylor Women’s Council.) Joan was also a charter member of the Nash Farm Committee. In 2022 Roy and Joan received Lifetime Member Award from the Grapevine Historical Society in recognition of outstanding service and contributions. Joan was a member of the Bay View Club, a cornerstone of local history since 1925, and which she lovingly referred to members as her sisterhood.

Joan was preceded in death by her husband, Grapevine Councilman Del Roy Stewart in 2023, and son David Randall “Randy” Stewart who died at age 3. Their two daughters, Kerri Thomson and Kimberly Prochnow, live locally. She is also survived by her sister, Lynda Jefferies.