Joann Sutro, a longtime resident of Oakland, died peacefully in hospice in Concord, California, on September 19, 2024, at age 94.
At the time of her passing, Joann lived at Belmont Village Senior Living in Albany. Her activities there reflected lifelong interests. She had a passion for the outdoors and went for regular walks in the neighborhood. She maintained her connection to books through participation in their book club and shelving books in the library. Scrabble was her favorite game and she bested most opponents with her eclectic vocabulary.
In recent years, Joann volunteered at the Oakland Library’s Bookmark Bookstore in downtown Oakland. She collected books dating back to the 19th century, many of them related to California and Bay Area history. Her favorite authors ranged from Mark Twain to Stieg Larsson, Annie Proulx, and Barbara Kingsolver.
Joann was devoted to her large family, and she mailed birthday and holiday cards that arrived exactly on time. Each holiday season, her family looked forward to the lush green wreaths she sent.
Born in 1930 in Boulder, Colorado, to Adam and Suzanne Freeman, Mary Joann Freeman grew up in Colorado towns including Mancos, Olathe, and Basalt, as her father took jobs at various small public schools. She moved to Burbank when Adam switched careers to become an electrical engineer at Lockheed during World War II.
Joann attended Burbank High School. She was an excellent student and graduated in 1948. At Stanford University, she majored in anthropology. She enjoyed many Saturday afternoons at football games, including the annual Big Game between Stanford and UC Berkeley. When she was home in Burbank for the holidays, she was often a spectator at the New Year’s Day Rose Parade in Pasadena.
While in college, Joann met Henry Sutro one summer in the beachside town of Carmel, where she worked as a waitress and performed in the water ballet. They were married in Burbank in 1951 in a candlelight ceremony.
After Henry completed dental school, they raised their children Dirk, Mark, and Karen at a home in the Oakland hills. The family took skiing vacations at Lake Tahoe and Joann became a good skier. She also excelled at tennis and frequently waxed her children at ping pong. She especially enjoyed wandering beaches at low tide, collecting driftwood and beachstones that she displayed around her home.
In the seventies, Joann was among volunteers who joined the effort to rescue and restore the Victorian-era Camron-Stanford house next to Lake Merritt in Oakland. Pursuing her interest in California history, she also earned a master’s degree in folklore at UC Berkeley in 1976, with a thesis focused on California Gold Rush humor.
An excellent and versatile writer, Joann was a longtime news editor at Bay City News Service, working for several decades with founders Richard (Dick) and Marcia (Schwalbe) Fogel, and Wayne Futak. She assigned reporters to cover news throughout the greater Bay Area, helping to set the agenda for media coverage in the region. Many young journalists, including current BCN owner Katherine Ann Rowlands, began their careers working for Joann and credit her with getting them off to a solid start in journalism and sparking their passion for the profession.
After Joann and Henry divorced, they remained good friends. At her own home in Montclair, Joann hosted countless family gatherings and summer visits. An ace at various card games, she organized bridge luncheons that included fellow Stanford alums Beverly Chavalas and Joan Tornlof.
Her seven grandchildren loved to visit their warm and friendly Grommy Jo, aka Mema, who always kept toys, art supplies, and children’s books on hand. Joann will be remembered for her kindness to everyone, for her curiosity and broad interests, and for helping those who were less fortunate. Most of all, she will be remembered for her deep and unconditional love of her family. They miss her very much as they celebrate her long and well-lived life.
No services are planned. In lieu of flowers, the Sutro family suggests that in keeping with Joann’s love of books and reading, donations be made to Friends of the Oakland Public Library, on behalf of its non-profit Bookmark Bookstore. https://www.fopl.org/the-bookmark
Published in: East Bay Times from December 22, 2024 to December 24, 2024
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