Joan Celicia Hostetter

Joan Cecila Cook Hostetter, beloved mother, grandmother, great grandmother and friend, passed away peacefully on November 14, 2025, at the age of 92, at her home in Visalia, California. Born on September 22, 1933, in Toledo, Ohio to Harold A. Cook and Marie E. Cook, she was the youngest of their three daughters. She grew up in Toledo, and spent her summers with family and friends on Posey Lake in Michigan, where her parents had built a cottage on lakefront property. Joan attended Ladyfield Elementary School and Central Catholic High School, where she was an exceptional student, learned to play the piano and participated in the Glee Club. After high school, her father encouraged her to go to Nursing School through Toledo Hospital, where her class photo still hangs to this day. She met her husband-to-be, C. Duane Hostetter, when the blind dates they were each on turned out to be duds and they snuck off together. Their courtship ending in marriage on June 11, 1955, and soon after, Hoss was drafted into the Navy. While stationed in Villefranche-sur-Mer, France, Joan was able to visit Hoss and travel the French countryside with him while he was on leave. Joan and Hoss returned to Ohio after his service, where they started a family on June 17, 1958, with the birth of their son, James Michael Hostetter. In the spring of 1964 while pregnant with their second child, Hoss was transferred to Los Angeles by the company he worked for, and the family settled into their new home in the far west end of the San Fernando Valley. It was there that Joan, Hoss and Jim welcomed her daughter Susan Jean Hostetter into this world on July 1, 1964. Life was grand in the Valley, where they eventually bought a house on a hill, and held summer BBQ's by their pool with a view. Joan and her family became lifelong friends with their neighbors, other Southern California transplants from around the country, affectionately known as their "California Family." While raising Jim and Susie, Joan worked at West Hills Hospital and took classes to become a Coronary Care and Intensive Care Registered Nurse. She was one of the first specialty care nurses in all of Los Angeles County, and often worked "registry" to fill in at hospitals around Los Angeles when she was needed. After the tragic loss of her husband in 1981, Joan finished out her career and eventually settled into retirement, where she lovingly doted over Jim's daughters, and soon thereafter, Susie's daughters. She eventually sold her home in West Hills, and moved to Visalia to be close to the loving care of Susie and her family. Throughout her life, Joan was a source of unwavering love, strength, and guidance to her family and friends. Joan was an Irish Catholic redhead, fiercely independent and pursued every act of love and kindness with unwavering and unrelenting determination. A breast cancer survivor and advocate, a cat lover extraordinaire, and a prolific bargain shopper were just a few of the things that we all loved about the lady we affectionately knew as "Kik." In addition to Jim, Susie and her husband Ken, Joan is survived by four grandchildren, Lisa, Lynze, Gracie and Kate, three great-grandchildren, Ellie Joan, Cody, and Avery Joan, and many other relatives and friends who were touched by her warmth and kindness. A funeral service to honor and celebrate Joan's life will be held at Saint Anthony Retreat Center, located at 43816 Sierra Drive, Three Rivers, California, on Monday, November 24, at 11:00 AM. Friends and family are invited to attend to pay their respects and share their memories. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that donations be made in Joan's memory to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, the Florence Nightengale Foundation, the National Breast Cancer Foundation, Inc., or your favored charitable organization. Services have been entrusted to Salser & Dillard Funeral Chapel. Memorial Tributes and condolences may be offered by logging onto www.salseranddillard.com.

Joan Celicia Hostetter

September 22, 1933 - November 14, 2025