Joan Estelle Bales

Joan Estelle Glasgow Bales was born September 3, 1928 in Vancouver, Washington. Her parents got homesick and decided to move back to the Midwest to be closer to their family. They moved to Cherokee, Oklahoma where she began school but when she was to enter the fourth grade her family moved to Bartlesville, Oklahoma and it was there that she graduated from College High School in 1946. Her boyfriend that was in the U.S. Navy during WW II was discharged in 1946 . Together they enrolled at Oklahoma A &M college, later known as Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. In 1948 she married that boyfriend, J.D. Bales, in Bartlesville Oklahoma, they were married for 64 years. Joan graduated with a BS Degree in Home Economics and J.D. graduated with a BS Degree in Animal Husbandry in 1950. After graduation they moved to Kansas City, Missouri where Joan took a kindergarten teaching job at Prairie Grade School in Prairie Village, Kansas. J.D. was employed by Armour Packing Company as a cattle buyer.
They moved seven times over their children's young lives and finally settling their family in Emporia, Kansas in 1964.

While at Oklahoma State University, Joan was a member of Chi Omega Sorority, The PEO sisterhood as a fifty one year member, Etude Study Club and a life long Presbyterian. She loved to sing and was in many concerts and plays while in school and sang in a womens' performance group while living in Kansas City. One of her favorite pastime activities was to play bridge. She learned how to play at an early age from her father. She played in several bridge groups throughout her life. Her claim to fame was that she lived in 13 cities across the country. Joan was a loving wife to her childhood sweetheart, its been said she never went into a dress shop and came out empty handed, if she wanted something her husband made sure she got it. A favorite memory often spoken about was when her first great-grand child Jackson Pufahl was five years old and walking with his great grandmother Joan at the Emporia Zoo and he looked up to her and said,”we're going to love each other forever.” She always told us that is was the most loving comment he could possible have shared with her.

Joan is survived by a son Randy (Debra) of Topeka, Kansas, granddaughter Nicole Bales Pufahl (Tyler) great-grandchildren Jackson and Lillian of Leander, Texas , grandson Michael R. Bales II (Jen) great-granddaughter Nova Estelle(named after her great-grandmother) of Denver, Colorado. Daughter Becky McBride (Dan) of Shawnee, Kansas, granddaughter Erin McBride, great-grandchildren Jared and Connor , grandson Jeff McBride, great-grandchildren Abigail, Aria, Alyssa all of Shawnee, Kansas, a brother Jerry Glasgow (Nancy) of Shawnee, Oklahoma, sister-in-law Anne Glasgow of Oklahoma City,Oklahoma, brother-in-law Ken Smalley of Dallas, Texas and many cousins,nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents Dr. Merle and Lavera Glasgow, brother Jimmy Glasgow and sister Janet Glasgow Smalley.

Cremation is planned. Memorial Services will be held at the Emporia Presbyterian Church on Saturday, November 17, 2018 at 11:00 A.M. The service will be conducted by Rev. Phyllis Stutzman. Inurnment will follow in Memorial Lawn Cemetery, Emporia.
The family will receive friends at Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home from 6:30 PM until 8:00 PM on Friday, November 16, 2018.
In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made to Emporia Friends of the Zoo or Fisher Center for Alzheimers Research Foundation. Contributions may be sent in care of Roberts-Blue-Barnett Funeral Home, PO Box #175, Emporia, Kansas 66801. To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Joan Estelle Bales, please visit our flower store.