![\"Joy](\"\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/04\/Joy-Stegner.jpg\")
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Joy Smith Stegner, 71, of Kearney, MO, passed away on the morning of Saturday, April 13, 2024 at her home due to complications from a recent illness.<\/p>\n
She was the youngest of four children born to the late Elbert and Ellen Smith on October 2, 1952, in Kentwood, LA, and grew up on a dairy farm. Joy placed her faith in Jesus and was baptized on June 17, 1962.\u00a0 She attended Northeast Louisiana University in Monroe, LA, where she completed her 5-year Bachelor of Science in Pharmacy degree in 3 and a half years.<\/p>\n
Joy met the love of her life, George Stegner, while taking night school classes at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA, and they were married on November 15, 1975.\u00a0 Their family continued to grow with the birth of two sons, Jeffrey in 1982, and Steven in 1984.\u00a0 Joy was a career pharmacist (retiring in 2016) who maintained her registration in 5 different states all while being a loving, devoted mother to her two sons.\u00a0 As a mom, Joy never missed an opportunity to see her sons\u2019 band and choir concerts or little league baseball games.<\/p>\n
Joy was an active member of several organizations, including the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Daughters of the War of 1812, where she enjoyed helping other women trace their genealogy. Joy was also a member of the Mustang Club of Greater Kansas City, serving as the membership chair for 20 years. In addition, she was a member of the Mustang Club of America, where she served on the national board of directors, participated on multiple committees, was a Gold-Card Judge, and earned her pin last weekend for having judged at 50 national shows. George and Joy loved to travel across the country to various Mustang Club of America car shows. Over the course of 18 months between October 2021 and March 2023, they visited 43 states in her Joyride Mustang and checked off her 50th state by cruising Hawaii.<\/p>\n
In addition to her membership responsibilities, Joy enjoyed watching LSU and Kansas City football, as well as working on beautiful, quilted masterpieces with her mother-in-law, Jeanette. Besides Joy\u2019s love for the Lord, her greatest passion was her love for her family\u2014especially as Gramma to two grandchildren, Mykah (age 10) and Phoebe (age 3). She loved going on coffee dates and shopping with Mykah and reading to Phoebe.<\/p>\n
Joy was preceded in death by her parents, Elbert and Ellen Smith, and her grandson, Gideon Stegner.<\/p>\n
She is lovingly survived by her husband, George Stegner; her sons, Jeff Stegner (Richard) and Steven Stegner (Lisa), and her granddaughters, Mykah and Phoebe. Joy is also survived by her mother-in-law, Jeanette Stegner; her sister, Carolyn Baxter (Henry); brothers, Johnnie Smith and Lea Smith (Wanda); numerous nieces and nephews, great-nieces and great-nephews and many more beloved chosen family and friends.<\/p>\n
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