Joan King Saita

March 31, 1941 – May 20, 2016

Joan Ann King Saita, 75, of Terrebonne passed in the early hours of May 20, 2016, after a three-year battle with brain cancer.

She was born and raised in Amsterdam, N.Y., where she graduated from Amsterdam High School and attended nursing school before marrying her high school sweetheart, John C. “Jack” Saita. On May 7, the couple celebrated 55 years of marriage. The family, which included four daughters, moved throughout the United States and Japan during Jack’s shipbuilding career. Once retired, the couple was drawn to central Oregon and settled in Terrebonne in 2006.

Joan was the youngest of three children born to the late Anna and Augustus “Gus” King. She proved to be a survivor with extraordinary inner strength from an early age, when she was critically injured in a hit-and-run at age 3. That resolve again was put to the test more recently when she developed a large, malignant brain tumor, requiring difficult surgery and intensive cancer treatments over the next two-plus years.

She held numerous jobs throughout her lifetime, but considered her role as a wife, mother, and grandmother as most important. She loved spending hours sitting at the kitchen table talking about politics and current events with family and friends who will remember Joan for her humor, sharp wit, and passions. She was a self-taught artist whose paintings and other artworks drew praise and accolades wherever they were displayed. She also had a knack for picking winning racehorses and having good luck at casino slot machines.

A generous soul, Joan was a lifelong Lutheran known for her charity, particularly her support of animal and horse rescue programs, humanitarian efforts, and Christian ministries.

In addition to her husband, Joan is survived by daughter, Anne Saita and son-in-law, Gilbert Madrid of San Diego, Calif.; daughter, Colleen Prosser of Charlotte, N.C.; daughter, Kimberly Saita of Terrebonne and her fiancé, Bren Athens of Redmond; and daughter, Maureen Bryant and son-in-law, Patrick Bryant of Bend. Her grandchildren include Elise Madrid of Fairfax, Calif.; Alexandra Madrid of San Diego; Austin, Bailey and Skyler Prosser of Blacksburg, Va.; and Lucas Saita of Terrebonne.

Memorial donations may be made to Hospice of Redmond online at www.hospiceofredmond.org/donating.html or by sending a check to the non-profit organization at 732 SW 23rd Street, Redmond, OR 97756.