Joan K. Cline

Joan Marie Klapetsky Cline died peacefully at the age of 92 on November 1, 2022, at the G.E. Whalen Veterans Nursing Home in North Ogden, Utah, surrounded by her family. Joan was born on May 31, 1930 in Mattydale, New York to Daniel John and Gertrude Sullivan Klapetsky, the oldest of 5 brothers and sisters. She is preceded in death by her father and mother, her stepmother Olive Klapetsky, three of her brothers and sisters (Al Klapetsky, John Klapetsky, Rita Kerrick) and her husband, Gould L. “Jack” Cline. She is survived by her sister Ann Lindenmeyer, her daughters Christine Cline (Eric Borkgren), Mary Rutledge (Edward Rutledge) and Suzanne Perucca (Andrew Chacon), her granddaughters Angelina Perucca and Sahaja Rutledge, and her great grandchildren Carmen and Thomas Perucca.

 After graduating from high school, Joan went to Nursing School at St. Joseph’s Nursing College, and also trained as an office assistant. After working in a doctor’s office as both nurse and office manager in Syracuse NY, Joan joined the U.S. Air Force in 1956, and was stationed at Loring Air Force Base in northern Maine. Joan met her husband Jack at a Singles’ Valentine’s Day party on base. After a brief courtship in the balmy late winter weather of northern Maine, Jack received orders to transfer to McLelland Air Force Base in Sacramento, CA. Making a quick decision, Joan married Jack a month after they met, on March 14, 1958. Joan and Jack had a solid and adventurous partnership for 45 years, moving from Sacramento to Boulder CO, back to Sacramento, then to Hill Air Force Base, then a year in South Ogden as Jack was stationed in Vietnam for a year, then to Washington D.C., then back to Utah where they bought a home in South Ogden to live and retire in, filling it with beautiful furniture, artwork and memories from their many years of travels together.

Throughout her life, Joan was a woman with many friends, possessing a rapier wit, generosity and a mastery of the social graces. Among her many talents, she was an accomplished seamstress, a gourmet cook and bread baker extraordinaire, a master holiday decorator, a devoted diarist and seeker of healing, a juggler of many responsibilities and projects, and a supporter of her daughters’ passions and interests. She also followed her own passions and interests, returning to nursing at St. Benedict’s Hospital (later Ogden Regional Hospital) in 1976, where she worked at one of the first Substance Detox and Treatment Centers in Utah until her retirement in 1996. Joan also enjoyed walking, golf, swimming and hiking, and decided at age 70 to take an Outward-Bound Wilderness Outdoors Class in order to do a multi-day rafting trip on the Green River.  Joan and Jack enjoyed travel to cities and golf courses throughout the west, often with their friends Doris and Ed Hawkins and Charlie and Jean Voeller, where they would share a condo for a week and set up shop to cook, eat, laugh and enjoy. Following Jack’s death in 2003, Joan stayed active in volunteer work at the hospital, served on the boards of several organizations, was a mainstay at gatherings of the Ogden Gourmet Club and the Utah Opera League, and traveled extensively, adding places like Rome, Ireland and England to her passport. Joan also loved to get out on the open road, and with a group of friends shuttled cars between northern Utah and Idaho for a dealership in Pocatello.  Throughout her life, Joan’s faith in the Catholic church grounded and sustained her.

To honor her life, the family invites friends and acquaintances to a Memorial Mass to be said at the Holy Family Catholic Church in South Ogden at 1:00 PM on Saturday December 17^th.

 In lieu of flowers or gifts, please make a donation to the Holy Family Catholic Church or an organization of your choosing.

Rest in peace, dear Joan.