Joan Kaltenbach

Joan Kaltenbach, 80, passed away on December 2, 2015. Joan was born in Chicago on November 9, 1935 to Guy and Evelyn Siddons. She was an only child and did exceedingly well at school. She was very bright and skipped several grades and graduated from high school when she was only 16 years old. Her parents had moved to St. Louis and Joan soon followed, working at a government office in St. Louis. There, she met Jim, her future husband. Jim was a veteran of World War II. As a Navy pilot, he had flown many missions in the Asia-Pacific area, delivering supplies and transporting personnel. Jim and Joan were married 3 months after they met in St. Louis in January 1954! A year after their marriage, almost to the day, they had their first child, Guy Kaltenbach. A year later Diane Kaltenbach (Karl Schoenefeld) was born, then Paul Kaltenbach (Phylis), then Gary Kaltenbach. Within 5 years, Joan and Jim had a full family life. When the kids were all in school, Joan looked into a teaching career. Because of the large influx of post WWII school children, teachers were badly needed. Joan received her teaching degree from SIU-Edwardsville. She initially taught elementary school, then high school, then college. She completed her teaching career at Lewis & Clark Community College in Godfrey Illinois. Joan did not rest on her laurels as a college professor. She went on to get her Master's at SIU-E and then her doctorate at St. Louis University- she received A's in all of her course work. By this time her children were grown and Joan was again looking for something new to do. Jim had retried from the U.S. government and he and Joan traveled to Europe, Hawaii, and many beautiful places in the U.S. Joan also decided to become a real-estate agent. She and Jim both got their license, but Joan really put it to use. Living in Ferguson MO from 1968-1988, Joan sold many houses in the North County area. Ferguson was a quaint town and a wonderful place for her children to grow up. There was many a baseball game, soccer match, or football game, to attend and cheer her kids on. Joan and Jim also decided to purchase a small auto-detailing shop to help their son Gary get started in the business. They assisted in the car detailing business until Jim's death in 2012. Another enterprise Joan picked up with her son Gary in the last 10 years is rehabbing houses. Joan, with her real estate experience and Gary with his many construction contacts, were able to make a business of rehabbing homes. Joan was heartily involved in this until her recent passing at 80 years of age.

Joan Kaltenbach

January 11, 1935 - December 2, 2015