Joan Alexa Metheny, born June 21, 1930 in Seattle, died of cancer at her home on Whidbey Island on June 19, just short of her 77th birthday.

She was a spirited, spunky, and adventurous woman who was a good friend to many people. She loved beach walking, writing, hiking, kayaking, going to market, listening to all kinds of music, buying and reading books on many topics, and meeting friends for lunch and dinner.

Joan grew up on Queen Anne Hill, the daughter of Alice Nelson Alexa and Stanislaus Anthony Alexa. She attended Coe School, Queen Anne High School, and the University of Washington where she was a member of the Phi Mu Fraternity.

She met her husband David M. Metheny at the university in 1949. They were married on Nov. 29, 1952, three weeks before David went off as a soldier in the Korean War.

Joan and David settled in Seattle, north of the University District, where they raised four children and a variety of pets.

During the 1960s and ’70s, Joan was involved in numerous civic organizations. She was a member of the Seattle League of Women Voters and the University Unitarian Church. She worked on the campaign to save the Pike Place Market in the 1960s, a number of Seattle Public School levies in the 1960s and ’70s, and the attempt to desegregate/integrate the Seattle Public Schools in the 1960s and ‘70s, as well as numerous political campaigns, electoral and issue oriented. She also worked for the Washington State Grange as a reporter and wrote the UUC newsletter.

In 1979, with their children launched into adulthood, Joan and David moved to Redondo Beach, Calif. where she immediately developed a strong friend network and plunged into civic activities. Upon leaving Redondo Beach in 1986, the city issued a proclamation commending Joan for her work with the Beach Cities League of Women Voters in which she presided as President,

1985-86, as a member of the Farmer’s Market Committee, as a board member of the South Bay Coalition Alternative to Domestic Violence, as a board member of the Redondo Beach Sister City Committee, as a board member of the Historical Society, as a member and co-founder of Friends of the Library, as an appointed member of the Redondo Beach Library Commission, and as a respected reporter for The Argonaut and The Redondo Beach Record, where she received a death threat from the Ku Klux Klan for a story she wrote.

She and David then moved to Winnetka, Ill. where she once again became involved in local politics, Friends of the Library, the League of Women Voters and Sisters in Crime, an organization of women writers of the mystery genre.

After three years in the Midwest, Joan and David were able to move back to the Pacific Northwest. They made their retirement home on South Whidbey where Joan thrived in the writing and reading community as well as being active with beach walking, hiking and kayaking.

She was a stalwart member of the Ladies of the Beach, was an accomplished circumnavigator, and a Beach Watcher. She was a member of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Whidbey Island, the South Whidbey League of Women Voters, for whom she wrote the newsletter, Friends of the Library and a volunteer fundraiser for Planned Parenthood.

Most importantly Joan was a connector, and the last 18 years of her life on the Island were about being with old and new friends, of spending time with her family, of trips with her grandchildren to the East Coast and England and of living life to the fullest with her husband David.

Her parents Stan and Alice, and her beloved sister Alice preceded Joan in death. She is survived by her husband David of Clinton; her children; Marie Metheny of Walla Walla, Ann Hume of Olympia, Susan Metheny of Hereford, United Kingdom, and David Metheny, of Clinton; as well as four grandchildren, Kelsey, Gabriel, Isabel, and Alexander.

A Celebration of Life will be held at 1 p.m. Thursday, June 28 at the Whidbey Institute, 6449 Old Pietila Road, Clinton, off Campbell Road, east of Cultus Bay Road.

Memorials may be made to the organization of your choice.