Remembering Joanne McDonough

On December 18, 2021, we lost a family member. Ask anyone who crossed paths with Joanne McDonough through her years of supporting Habitat, and you’ll hear variations on a single theme: she was an incredibly bright light, extinguished far too soon.

Joanne was elected to chair the Board of Directors at the legacy Habitat Silicon Valley affiliate in 2007, and in the ensuing eight years, she helped see the organization through its merger with Habitat East Bay – an involved, protracted, and at times tricky process she navigated with grace, passion, and an unwavering focus on Habitat’s mission.

“She was just all heart, and she was all heart for Habitat – you could see it in everything she did,” remembers Erin Spaulding, our Director of Marketing and Communications. When she met Joanne, Erin was serving as an AmeriCorps member in 2009. She worked closely with Joanne on events and on Habitat’s relationship with Thrivent Financial, where Joanne served for many years as a Financial Associate. Erin’s memories revolve around lunch meetings – “Joanne was the type of person who wanted not just to have a meeting, but to have lunch,” Erin says – and the fun Thrivent giveaways Joanne would shower her with whenever she dropped by the office, and even the one Easter Joanne invited her to join her family for church when she learned that Erin didn’t have plans.

Although Joanne’s term on the Board ended in 2015, she certainly didn’t stop supporting Habitat – one of her hallmark fundraisers was the San Jose Giants game she’d host as a Thrivent benefit for Habitat each year. Erin still remembers “Joanne at the San Jose Giants game, with her table set up and perfectly decorated, and her just open-armed and smiling the moment I walked up.”

For Board member Johnnie Byrd, those Giants games were quintessential Joanne.

“It was clear that she cared about whether everyone was happy and comfortable,” he says, remembering the way Joanne was “always asking who was cold, checking who was hungry, making sure no one needed to change seats.”

And while she was taking care of everyone’s needs, still Joanne was able “to make everyone feel that they were special.” For Johnnie, that came in the form of advice about parenting daughters. Like Johnnie, Joanne was the proud parent to two daughters – and some of Johnnie’s favorite memories are benefitting from her wisdom: “She helped me get a preview of what was to come!”

Though sitting side by side at a baseball game was a far cry from sharing a table in a Habitat Board meeting, Johnnie appreciated Joanne in both contexts.

“She was always the voice of reason,” Johnnie recalls. “She was always someone that would give the straight scoop. She didn’t talk a lot during meetings, but when she did speak up, it would make you think. When she spoke, everybody perked up – ‘Oh, Joanne’s saying something.’”

Janice, our President & CEO, knew Joanne from both the Habitat boardroom and as her Thrivent client.

To Janice, Joanne was “that consummate partner, always putting Habitat first and looking for how Thrivent and Habitat could work together, and how she could champion anything for Habitat. She was just tireless in that way. If there was a fundraiser, Joanne was there. She just showed up for you.”

The image of Joanne as the ultimate hostess is ingrained in Janice’s memory. “I loved to watch her in her element, because that woman really knew how to work a room. She could work a room like no other.”

And when she became Joanne’s financial services client, Janice says, “It really deepened my respect for her even further, because I hadn’t realized how committed she is to working with women in particular – to helping them step up financially and take control of their financial wellness. She did all of this stuff under the radar. Joanne was not a person who chased the limelight.”

It was easy to go from business to friendship with Joanne. “Oh, she loved to tease people,” Janice remembers. We always teased each other. We’d always tease each other about our jewelry – I used to joke that I could hear her jewelry walk into the room before I saw her.”

In fact, their last conversation was light and fun. Mostly, though, Janice recalls that in that last conversation, Joanne just seemed content. She had recently retired – though Janice teased her for still having “one foot in the door” – and moved to Santa Cruz to be close to one of her daughters. “She loved that,” Janice says. “She just seemed really happy.”

It’s no surprise, since “she loved being at the beach. The beach was her place,” according to Pam Brotherton-Sedano, who got to know Joanne as a fellow Board member years ago and quickly became close friends with her.

Far more than the beach, though, Joanne loved being close to family, and her move to Santa Cruz put her just steps away from her daughter Mykell. “She was very close to both of her daughters,” says Pam. “She always had something wonderful to say about them. Every time we talked. She just adored them and her grandsons – she called them ‘her boys.’”

Family was truly Joanne’s center. Pam was always in awe of how even though Joanne “was very active with Thrivent, with Habitat, and with so many other things – she was always able to balance it and prioritize her time for her daughters and her grandsons. When I think of them, I’m just so sad that they lost their grandma, because she was just who you’d dream of having for your grandma.”

And family was at the root of it when it came to Habitat, too. “She was always about the families, and especially about the kids. She just connected deeply,” Pam points out. Pam believes it grew out of Joanne’s own experience as a longtime single mother who worked hard to change the trajectory of her own life, raising her two daughters and switching careers successfully in her 40s. “She just believed that everyone deserves a safe place to live. It’s just that simple. And she took any opportunity to make that happen.”

And make it happen, she did. Joanne’s support over the years has inspired so much engagement, giving, and advocacy for Habitat’s work. It’s only natural, as Pam describes Joanne as “a force to be reckoned with. You couldn’t say no to her, and you wouldn’t want to! She just had so much passion and enthusiasm.”

We are so thankful for Joanne’s years of tireless work in service of our mission – and more than that, for her huge heart, humor, intelligence, and all the countless lives she touched. Our thoughts are with Joanne’s beloved daughters, Mykell and Jamie, and her grandsons, Gabriel and Isaiah, and all those who loved her. And we’re grateful for the memories Joanne left us with.

“When I think of Joanne,” Erin says, “I just think of joy. She was my bestie on the Board. She’s just one of those connections you have that are kindred spirits.”

To Johnnie, “She’s one of my favorite people I’ve met at Habitat. That rosy smile she always had. And her giggle. That giggle and that smile will be with me for the rest of my life.”

For Janice, it’s “her laughter. She had a great laugh. A really great laugh. It wasn’t particularly loud, but it was so distinctly Joanne, so specific. If I walked into an event or something, I didn’t have to look for Joanne. I could hear her. I’d just listen for that laugh and know exactly where she was.”

And in Pam’s mind, “She was just a peach. It was just by chance that we met each other and became friends, and I feel so grateful to Habitat for that.”