JoAnn Mowry Handley- Memorial Headstone Fund

In memory of the many years of service to the City of Scottsdale, we are looking for donations to assist with the purchase and placement of a headstone for JoAnn Mowry Handley. She has been buried at the historical Camelback Cemetary on McDonald Drive

JoAnn Mowry Handley passed away on August 13th, 2024, 3 1/2 weeks before her 93rd birthday. She was born and raised in Scottsdale, Arizona, and graduated from Scottsdale Grammar School in 1945 and Scottsdale High School in 1949.

During her years at the Scottsdale Grammar School, she was active in the Camp Fire Girls and used to walk past an alfalfa field and a dairy farm near the house on Main Street. While at Scottsdale High, she was the vice president of the Girls League, president of the Beaver Boosters, and served on the yearbook staff. After graduating from Scottsdale High, she attended Phoenix College and prepared for nursetraining at the Good Samaritan Hospital School of Nursing. She worked at the hospital and also as a nurse in a Phoenix doctor's office when she met U.S. Army soldier Donald J. Handley. They were married in 1958.

After they were married, they moved several times between 1958 and 1970, going to different cities in the U.S. and also to Germany. After Donald retired from the U.S. Army in 1970, they moved back to Scottsdale, Arizona, where they lived until they passed away. She worked as a substitute nurse in the Scottsdale Public School District schools and also volunteered in their libraries, too. Their only child, Stuart A. Handley, was born in 1960. Stuart attended Paiute Elementary School and graduated from Scottsdale High School in 1978, the first member of the third generation of the family to graduate from Scottsdale High.

After JoAnn returned to Scottsdale, Arizona, in 1970, she became involved as a volunteer with the Scottsdale Historical Society, working both as a secretary, and a docent at the Scottsdale Historical Museum, in the Little Red Schoolhouse, for many years, and also as its president for a couple of years. Her parents were students in that school, the first brick building built in Scottsdale in 1923. She had an encyclopedic knowledge of the history of Scottsdale, and she loved telling that history to everyone. She also was involved in getting many historical items donated to the Scottsdale Historical Society. She also served on various committees for the preservation of historic Scottsdale, and, along with her sisters, Eleanor Brierley, Diana Green, and Becky Mowry, and her step-mother, Labeula Mowry, helped organize the first Scottsdale High all-year reunion. She was also involved with the management of the Camelback Cemetery for many years. Staying involved with the preservation of Scottsdale's history helped her stay young and active for many years.

She is survived by her sisters, Eleanor Brierley, Diana Green, and Becky Mowry, her son, Stuart Handley, her grandchildren, Miranda Handley, and Atheri Autumn Heartshine, and lots of nieces and nephews. She is predeceased by her mother, Dorothy Donn Mowry, her father, Lester Mowry, her stepmother, Labeula Mowry, and her husband, Donald Handley. She was buried at the Camelback Cemetery on September 3rd 2024 where she joined her husband. She will be missed by the many people she spent time with, but her memories will be with us forever.