Submitted by the family
Joan Thulin died July 16, 2026, at the age of 95. She was accompanied in her final days by her sons, Josh and Justin, and her daughter, Elizabeth.
Joan was a warm and engaging individual — a devoted wife, a great mother, a beloved grandmother, and a good friend to many people.
She was born November 6, 1930, in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Hazel Forth and Frank Kippley, both children of immigrants from England and Norway, and Germany, respectively.
At Washburn High School in Minneapolis, Joan was known as a vivacious girl with a beautiful smile and her class’s biggest flirt. There she met Walt Thulin. Both attended the University of Minnesota, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in home economics. After a four-year courtship, Joan and Walt married in 1952. Their love affair lasted 72 years, marked by a mutual admiration and devotion that inspired all who witnessed it.
Their first stop after college was Boston, MA, where Walt attended Harvard Business School, Joan worked as a dietitian, and their first child, Elizabeth, was born. An itinerant life followed as Walt climbed the corporate ladder, taking them to California, Minnesota, Connecticut, Paris, France, back to Connecticut, and then to St. Louis, MO. After Walt retired from Mallinckrodt, Inc., they moved to Jackson Hole, WY, where they lived for 32 years. In their last decade in Jackson, Joan and Walt spent their winters in Coronado, CA. At each stop, Joan used her warm and gregarious personality to help integrate their family into the community and make many wonderful friendships.
In each community, Joan and Walt supported organizations that promoted the common good, including Great Books clubs, the Grand Teton Music Festival, the Teton Science Schools, and the National Museum of Wildlife Art.
Walt and Joan both prized learning. In Connecticut, Joan was an early advocate for special education for students with learning disabilities and an active participant in the Parent-Teacher Association. In St. Louis, she worked with the Edgewood Children’s Center, supporting kids with severe emotional and behavioral disturbances. They were proud that all eight of their grandchildren graduated from college.
Joan had an abundance of energy, likened by some to a hummingbird’s. She loved to play tennis, cross-country skied into her mid-80s, and hiked until she was 90. A great cook and consummate entertainer, she relished attending parties and putting on her own. Her dinners are remembered for their quality and for Walt’s practice of posing questions that led to lively discussions. Her children remember coming home from school to homemade cookies and blonde brownies, and her grandchildren received the same loving treatment.
Joan and Walt’s curiosity about the world, together with his corporate life, led them to travel widely. Their journeys took them across Asia, the Middle East, Africa, and Latin America, and throughout Europe.
They were also adventurous grandparents. In their mid-70s, Joan and Walt took all four granddaughters, then ten to fourteen, to hike in Arches National Park and the ancient cliff dwellings of Cedar Mesa in southern Utah. On another trip, Joan brought her granddaughters to Minneapolis to see where their grandparents grew up and spend a full day at the Mall of America.
In January 2021, when Joan was 90, she suffered a severe stroke that led them to move to Salt Lake City, UT, where she could receive the medical care she needed and be close to their youngest son, Justin, a physician. Walt tirelessly and good-naturedly nurtured his lifelong partner for three and a half years, and when he died, Justin made sure the consummate mother’s every need was taken care of.
Joan was predeceased by her husband, Walt; her younger sister, Kip; and her eldest son, Ed. She is survived by her brother, John, and his wife (Sheila); her three children, Elizabeth, Josh, and Justin and his wife (Perla); eight grandchildren, Madeline, Natalie and her partner (Afrikaan), Walter and his wife (Carina), Jase and his wife (Kelsey), Elyse and her partner (Chris), Lila, Leif, and Lars; and one great-grandchild, Finn.
Joan was grateful to have had a very good life. And those of us who knew her feel lucky to have basked in the radiance of her good humor and warmth. As Walt proudly said, “she could light up the room.” And she did.
Rest in peace, Mom.
Submitted by the family
