Joan Marsden McGee

A memorial celebration service for Joan Marsden McGee will be held Monday, October 7, 2013 at 1:00 PM at Emerald Bay Community Church with Dr. Darryle Dunks officiating. Burial will be held at 11:00 AM at Rose Lawn Cemetery prior to the service, under the direction of Stewart Family Funeral Home. Joan Marsden McGee danced her last dance and went to her eternal life in heaven on October 3, 2013. A resident of Emerald Bay community for 34 years, Joan is survived by her daughter, Andrea Lynne Stein, son-in-law, Robert Stein and granddaughter, Kellie Kristine Carpenter. She is also survived by two great-grandchildren, Emily and Hannah Wilburn of Kingwood. Joan was preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Harold McGee, her beloved son, John Forrest McGee, who died from injuries suffered from the Vietnam War. Joan was born in Bolton, Lancashire, England on September 26, 1921 and was the only child of Albert and Edith Marsden. She lived in England during WWII and worked 12 hours a day on the assembly lines of the Lancaster Bomber, drilling holes on the leading edge. A newlywed at 21, Joan lost her husband as he fought in Africa for the British Army. During the war, she spent many nights with family and friends in the bomb shelters as planes dropped bombs over her homeland as they emptied their cargo on their way home from bombing London. Joan loved to tell stories about those times, especially the hymns they sung as they listened for the planes as they left English soil. Joan loved to dance. She began performing at the age of 4 and was in a professional dance troop called the Dinkie Dots by age 14. She danced her way into the heart of an American GI, Harold H. McGee, when they met at The Palace Dance Hall after one of her shifts at the airplane factory. They married and she later traveled to America to live in Mississippi. Joan was always dancing. She started helping children learn to enjoy music and dance when she opened her first dance studio in a Biloxi Mississippi church. Later when Harold went to Oxford to attend Ole Miss, Joan started another dance school to support the family which she managed by bartering a room in exchange for teaching the children of the Ole Miss coaches. Ultimately Harold’s job brought them to Texas and she taught for over 20 years in Carthage and later in Conroe. Her energy, joy and love for dancing were evident in the contributions she made in each community where she lived. Joan choreographed musicals including Oklahoma, Carousel, The King and I, and other musical reviews in conjunction with the high school choir and the Lions Club. Her last dancing endeavor was the “Sophisticats”, a group of seniors at Emerald Bay who tap danced all around East Texas bringing joy and entertainment to nursing homes and community events. Oh how joyous it must be for Miss Joan to be dancing for Jesus now. Visitation is scheduled from 4:00 – 6:00 PM on Sunday, October 6, 2013 at Stewart Family Funeral Home, 7525 Old Jacksonville Highway, in Tyler. If desired, memorials may be made to Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund, One Intrepid Square, West 46th Street and 12th Avenue, New York, NY, 10036, Fisher House, 111 Rockville Pike, Suite 420, Rockville, Maryland, 20850, or another charity supporting military veterans.

Joan Marsden McGee

September 26, 1921 - October 3, 2013